LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY 
OAUfOtNIA 


Y   I       r- 1 

rj   1  recon  l 


MEMORIALS 


OF  THE 


Essex  Bar  Association 


AND 


BRIEF  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES  OF  SOME 

OF   THE    DISTINGUISHED    MEMBERS 

OF  THE  ESSEX  BAR   PRIOR   TO 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE 

ASSOCIATION. 


SALEM,  MASS. 

Newcomb  &  Gauss,  Printers. 

1900. 


LOAN  STACK 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  February 
6,  1900,  it  was  voted  :  That  William  D.  Northend  and 
Edward  B.  George  be  requested  and  authorized  to  have 
printed  in  a  volume  the  memorials  that  have  been  present- 
ed to  the  Court  by  this  Association,  with  such  notices  of 
members  of  the  Bar  before  the  organization  of  this  Asso- 
ciation as  they  shall  deem  best. 


Kio 

El  8 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  first  Essex  Bar  Association  was  formed  in  1806.  From 
a  copy  of  the  rules  and  regulations,  printed  in  1808,  it  ap- 
pears that  there  were  then  twenty-seven  members  of  the  Bar 
in  this  county,  as  follows : — 

Salem — Elisha  Mack,  Benjamin  R.  Nichols,  William  Pres- 
cott,  Samuel  Putnam,  John  Prince,  jr.,  John  Pickering, 
jr.,  Joseph  Story,  Samuel  Swett,  Leverett  Saltonstall, 
Joseph  Sprague,  jr. 

Newburyport — William  B.  Banister,  Joseph  Dana,  Samuel 
L.  Knapp,  Edward  St.  Loe  Livermore,  Edward  Little, 
Ebenezer  Mosely,  Moody  Noyes,  Daniel  A.  White. 

Haverhill — Stephen  Minot,  John  Varnum. 

Gloucester — Lonson  Nash,  Nathan  Bruce. 

Marblehead — Ralph  H.  French. 

Ipswich — Asa  Andrews. 

Beverly — Nathan  Dane. 

Andover — Samuel  Farrar. 

Lynn — John  Stuart. 

We  find  records  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Association  in 
1812.  How  much  longer  it  was  in  existence  we  have  been 
unable  to  ascertain. 

In  September,  1831,  a  new  Bar  Association  was  formed. 
It  appears  from  a  printed  copy  of  its  rules  that  there  were 
then  fifty-two  members  of  the  Bar  in  the  county.  The 
officers  for  that  year  were  :  Leverett  Saltonstall,  president ; 
Ebenezer  Shillaber,  secretary  ;  Ebenezer  Mosely,  Jacob  Ger- 
rish,  John  G.  King,  Rufus  Choate  and  Stephen  Minot, 
standing  committee.  This  association  existed  but  a  few 
years. 

The  present  Essex  Bar  Association  was  formed  in  1856, 
and  has  been  continued  without  intermission  to  the  present 
time.     It  has  proved  beneficial  to  the  Bar. 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

The  occasional  meetings  for  business,  and  the  annual 
gathering  and  festival  provided  for  in  the  earliest  by-laws, 
have  brought  the  members  into  kindly  intercourse  with  each 
other,  and  have  tended  to  allay  any  asperities  which  may 
have  been  engendered. 

The  Association  has  also  been  very  useful  in  the  exercise 
of  its  disciplinary  powers,  which  has  proved  so  efficient  that 
for  many  years  past  but  little  enforcement  has  been  required. 

It  has  also  performed  an  important  service  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  memorials  of  meritorious  members  of  the  Bar,  upon 
their  decease,  to  be  presented  for  record  to  the  Courts  ;  and 
the  duty  has  been  faithfully  performed,  not  only  as  a  perma- 
nent memorial  of  the  deceased,  but  as  showing  in  the  pro- 
gress of  time  the  advance  made  in  the  administration  of  the 
law.  This  duty  was  fully  appreciated  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Association,  and  the  memorials  prepared  or  approved  by 
Messrs.  Huntington,  Abbott,  Hazen,  Endicott,  Choate, 
Thompson  and  Ives,  who  have  passed  away,  evidence  the 
value  in  which  they  held  the  service,  and  should  impress 
upon  the  Bar  the  solemn  duty  of  continuing  the  custom.  So 
important  has  it  appeared  to  the  Association  that  it  has  voted 
to  gather  up  the  different  memorials  and  publish  them  in  a 
volume,  with  brief  mention  of  some  of  the  more  distin- 
guished members  of  the  Bar  prior  to  the  formation  of  the 
Association.  This  duty  has  been  performed,  and  this  volume 
is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  members  of  the 
Essex  Bar. 


CONTENTS. 


Abbott,  Alfred  A. 
Bradbury,  Theophilus 
Brickett,  Benjamin  F. 

BuRLEY,  ELBRIDGE    G. 

Carter,  Henry 
Chipman,  John 
Choate,  George  F. 
Choate,  Rufus 
Cranch,  William 
Cummins,  David 
Cushing,  Caleb 
Dane,  Nathan 
Duncan,  Jameb  H. 
Dunlap,  Andrew 
Farnham,  Daniel  . 
Harmon,  Nathan  W. 
Hazen,  Nathan  W. 
Huntington,  Asahel 
Ives,  Stephen  B. 
Jackson,  Charles 
Jones,  Jeremiah  P. 
King,  John  G. 
King,  Rufus 
Lord,  Nathaniel  J.    . 
Lord,  Otis  P. 
Lorino,  Ellis  Gray     . 
Lowell,  John 
Lunt,  George 
Merrill,  Benjamin 
Minot,  Stephen 
mosely,  ebenezer 
Nash,  Lonson 
Newhall,  Thomas  B. 
Oliver,  Benjamin  Lynde 
Osborne,  Theodore  M. 


92 

243 

217 

179 

225 

242 

118 

8 

248 

251 

48 

246 

7 

252 

242 

147 

114 

29 

77 

248 

158 

1 

246 

15 

61 

253 

243 

252 

251 

2 

250 

5 

150 

251 

233 


Vi  CONTENDS. 

Parsons,  Theophilus 245 

Perkins,  Jonathan  C.             38 

Perry,  Jairus  W 43 

Phillips,  Stephen  H.              189 

Pickering,  John 249 

Pickering,  Octavius 252 

Pickering,  Timothy            244 

Prescott,  William 247 

Putnam,  Samuel 247 

Pynchon,  William 242 

Rantoul,  Robert 253 

Saltonstall,  Leverett 250 

Sargent,  Nathaniel  P 243 

Sewall,  Charles              164 

Sewall,  Samuel 245 

Stickney,  Jeremiah  C.            ......  26 

Stimpson,  Thomas  M. 200 

Stone,  Eben  F 167 

Story,  Joseph .        .        .  249 

Thompson,  Charles  P 130 

Tyng,  Dudley  A. 247 

Ward,  Joshua  H 253 

Wheatland,  George 252 

White,  Daniel  A. 2 


JOHN  G.  KING. 

Resolutions  on  the  death  of  John  G.  King,  adopted  by  the 
Essex  Bar  Association  and  ordered  by  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  to  be  entered  upon  record  at  September  term, 
1857. 

"  Resolved,  that  the  Essex  Bar  Association  have  heard 
with  deep  regret  of  the  decease  of  the  Honorable  John  Glen 
King,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  their  society,  who  has 
been  identified  with  the  profession  of  the  law  in  Essex  Coun- 
ty for  the  last  half  century  ;  that  they  avail  themselves  of  this 
melancholy  occasion  to  express  their  high  regard  for  his  in- 
tegrity, his  fidelity  and  his  eminent  professional  merit,  and 
that  although  most  of  those  now  engaged  in  the  practice  are 
by  a  long  interval  his  juniors,  yet  young  as  well  as  old  will 
unite  in  paying  a  sincere  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
one  of  the  last  representatives  of  that  Essex  Bar,  which  was 
so  long  and  so  widely  known  and  honored. 

R"8olved,  That  the  Bar  are  proud  to  feel  that  it  is  not 
merely  in  the  path  of  the  profession  that  their  departed 
brother  has  been  distinguished,  but  that  in  all  the  relations 
of  public  and  private  life  the  consent  of  his  fellow  citizens 
has  awarded  to  his  character  the  merit  to  which  it  was  en- 
titled, and  that  the  numerous  and  responsible  stations,  which, 
through  a  long  life,  he  has  been  called  upon  to  occupy,  all  in- 
dicate the  unlimited  and  unabated  confidence  which  was  re- 
posed in  him. 

Resolved,  That  the  president  of  the  association  be  re- 
quested to  present  these  resolutions  to  the  Court  at  its  next 
session  and  request  that  they  be  entered  of  record." 

These  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Superior  Court, 
and  it  was  Ordered  that  said  resolutions  be  entered  on  the 
records  of  the  Court. 


DANIEL  A.  WHITE.        STEPHEN  MINOT. 


Resolutions  on  the  death  of  Daniel  A.  White  and  of  Ste- 
phen Minot,  adopted  by  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  and 
ordered  by  the  Superior  Court  to  be  entered  upon  record 
April  16,  1861. 

Resolved,  That  the  Bar  of  the  County  of  Essex,  receive 
with  feelings  of  unaffected  sadness,  the  intelligence  of  the  de- 
cease of  the  Honorable  Daniel  Appleton  White,  the  oldest 
member  of  this  association  and  who  discharged  for  nearly  for- 
ty years,  with  unequalled  dignity  and  fidelity,  the  responsible 
duties  of  judge  of  probate  for  this  county. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  mourn  over  this  sad  intelligence, 
we  yet  render  our  devout  thanks  to  the  Almighty  Disposer  of 
events  that  our  departed  brother  has  been  spared  so  much  be- 
yond the  ordinary  space  of  human  life,  in  the  full  possession 
of  his  noble  and  brilliant  faculties,  to  adorn  the  profession  of 
his  choice,  and  to  shed  the  lustre  of  his  intellect  and  character 
upon  all  the  institutions  and  associations  of  his  native  county, 
and  most  especially  for  that  serene  old  age,  which,  with  all  its 
refreshing  and  improving  influences,  has  so  fitly  terminated 
a  life  well  spent. 

Resolved,  That  we  gratefully  record  our  appreciation  of  the 
fine  intellectual  and  moral  traits  of  our  deceased  brother,  of 
that  elegant  and  varied  scholarship,  and  that  thorough  and 
exact  learning  of  which  a  brilliant  University  career  gave 
promise,  and  which  the  experience  of  so  long  a  life  did  not 
disappoint,  of  his  fidelity  to  his  professional  and  judicial  duties, 
of  the  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  the  probate  law,  by 
his  faithful  administration  and  his  published  treatise,  of  the 
pure  and  simple  course  of  his  daily  life,  of  the  unswerving  in- 
tegrity, the  exquisite  religious  sensibility,  the  large  philan- 
thropy and  the  unbounded  and  generous  sympathy  for  all 


DANIEL  A.   WHITE.      STEPHEN   MINOT.  3 

around  him,  which  ennobled  his  life,  even  to  its  extremest 
close  ;  and  that  although  we  cannot  repine  or  murmur  that 
such  a  life,  so  long  and  so  useful,  has  been  terminated  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  we  will  cherish  his  memory  with  affectionate 
pride  and  strive  to  profit  by  the  beneficent  influence  of  his 
example. 

Resolved,  That  the  chairman  of  the  committee  be  requested 
to  present  these  resolutions  to  the  Superior  Court  now  in  ses- 
sion, and  also  to  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  at  its  next  term, 
and  move  that  they  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  said  Courts, 
and  that  a  copy  of  the  same  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  the  Honorable  Stephen 
Minot  of  Haverhill,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  which 
occurred  on  the  sixth  inst.,  just  one  week  following  the  depar- 
ture from  earth  of  the  eminent  man  and  magistrate,  briefly 
commemorated  in  the  foregoing  resolutions,  we  have  to  lament 
the  loss,  while  we  desire  to  render  all  fitting  honor  to  the 
memory  of  another  respected  magistrate,  a  useful  and  honored 
fellow  citizen,  and  the  oldest  member  of  the  Essex  Bar.  He 
was  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  the  Middle  circuit,  from  December  term,  1811,  to 
June  term,  1821,  inclusive,  being  the  entire  legal  life  of  that 
Court.  He  was  attorney  for  the  Commonwealth  for  this 
county  from  1824  to  1830,  and  he  discharged  the  duties  of 
both  these  offices  with  honor  to  himself  and  usefulness  to  the 
Commonwealth.  He  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  principles 
and  practice  of  the  common  law,  and  this  was  fully  illustrated 
both  on  the  bench  and  at  the  bar.  He  was  a  man  of  genial 
humor,  and  in  the  latter  and  more  leisure  period  of  bis  life 
was  much  addicted  to  liberal  studies.  For  thirty  years  past 
he  has  been  almost  wholly  retired  from  the  active  duties  of 
the  profession,  and  has  been  but  seldom  seen  in  attendance  on 
the  courts.  But  his  name  and  his  praise  have  been  known 
among  us  by  tradition  or  by  the  recollections  of  a  few  of  the 
elders  of  the  bar.     Enough  is  known  of  him  and  more  than 


4  DANIEL   A.   WHITE. — STEPHEN  MINOT. 

enough,  to  make  us  desire  to  preserve  on  the  records  of  the 
Court  a  brief  tribute  to  the  memory  of  this  departed  magis- 
trate and  brother,  and  to  express  our  sympathies  with  the 
family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  the  chairman  of  the  committee  having  in 
charge  the  resolutions  hereto  adopted,  be  requested  to  present 
this  resolution,  and  to  ask  that  the  same  may  be  entered  of 
record,  and  a  copy  thereof  transmitted  to  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceased. 

April  16,  1861.  The  foregoing  resolutions  were  presented 
to  the  Court  by  the  Chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  Bar 
Association,  and  were  responded  to  in  a  most  fitting  manner 
by  the  Court.  The  Court  ordered  the  same  to  be  entered  at 
length  on  its  records,  that  attested  copies  thereof  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  respective  families  of  the  deceased,  and  that  be- 
fore entering  on  the  business  of  the  term,  in  honor  of  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  the  Court  will  now  adjourn  to  the 
18th  inst.  (Thursday)  at  9.30  A.  M.  and  the  Court  was  ad- 
journed accordingly. 


LONSON   NASH. 


Resolves  on  the  death  of  Lonson  Nash,  adopted  by  the 
Essex  Bar  Association  and  ordered  by  the  Superior  Court 
to  be  entered  of  record,  February,  1863. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  at 
the  Court  House  in  Salem,  on  Tuesday  the  tenth  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1863,  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  Lonson  Nash,  a  mem- 
ber of  this  body,  which  occurred  at  Great  Barrington  on  the 
first  instant,  the  President  in  the  chair,  Dan  Weed,  in  the 
absence  of  the  clerk,  was  chosen  secretary.  The  object  of 
the  meeting  being  stated  by  the  chair,  the  following  Resolu- 
tions, reported  for  the  purpose,  were  unanimously  adopted. 

Resolved,  That  we  have  heard  with  deep  sorrow  of  the 
death  of  the  Honorable  Lonson  Nash,  in  the  83d  year  of  his 
age,  in  a  remote  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  to  which  he  re- 
tired a  few  years  ago  on  leaving  the  practice  of  the  law  in 
the  courts  of  this  county,  which  he  had  followed  for  more 
than  half  a  century  with  an  interruption  of  some  eight  years. 
He  came  to  this  bar  in  1807  and  established  himself  in  Glou- 
cester and  retired  finally  from  the  practice  in  1860.  He  was 
an  honorable,  faithful  and  upright  counsellor  in  the  law,  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school  in  his  manners,  life  and  princi- 
ples, an  ornament  to  his  profession  in  the  integrity  and  purity 
of  his  character,  modest  and  unassuming  in  all  his  deport- 
ment, universally  respected  in  all  public  and  private  relations, 
honored  as  a  citizen  and  man,  and  always  an  example  of  all 
that  was  excellent  and  of  good  report.  He  was  early  called 
into  the  service  of  the  State  and  was  elected  to  the  Senate 
as  early  as  1812,  as  a  member  of  the  old  Federal  party,  to 
which  he  was  strongly  attached  while  that  party  existed.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from 
Gloucester  in  1809.  Contemporary  in  his  professional  life 
with  Dane,  Putnam,  Prescott,  Story,  White,  Andrews,  Pick- 


6  LONSON   NASH. 

ering,  Cummins,  Saltonstall,  Merrill,  King,  Mosely,  Varnum, 
Minot,  Clark  and  French,  we  of  the  present  generation  re- 
garded him  with  peculiar  respect  and  veneration  as  a  true 
representative  of  the  former  times,  as  a  genuine  type  of  the 
old  schools,  and  as  the  companion  and  friend  of  the  now  an- 
cient worthies  of  this  Bar,  men  of  excellent  report  in  their 
day  and  fit  to  be  commemorated  and  honored  at  all  times. 
We  parted  from  him  in  all  affectionate  respect,  when  he 
finally  retired  from  among  us,  after  this  long  life  of  honored 
and  useful  professional  services,  to  spend  his  few  remaining 
years  in  the  scenes  of  his  childhood  and  the  home  of  his 
fathers,  in  the  assured  Christian  hope  of  a  better  life. 

We  desire  by  these  proceedings  to  manifest  all  proper  re- 
spect for  his  memory  and  character,  and  to  this  end  we  request 
the  District  Attorney  to  present  them  to  the  Court  and  ask 
that  they  may  be  entered  of  record  in  perpetual  remembrance 
of  our  respect  and  regard  for  the  person,  life  and  character 
of  our  deceased  friend  and  brother. 

Voted,  That  these  proceedings  be  entered  at  length  in  our 
records. 


JAMES  H.  DUNCAN. 


Resolutions  on  the  death  of  James  Henry  Duncan, 
adopted  by  the  Essex  Bar  Association  and  ordered  by  the 
Superior  Court  to  be  entered  of  record  at  March  term,  1869. 

Resolved,  That  we  desire  to  express,  and  put  on  record,  our 
respect  for  the  memory  and  character  of  the  Honorable  James 
H.  Duncan,  whose  recent  death  was  so  sincerely  and  deeply 
lamented  in  the  particular  community  where  he  was  born  and 
lived,  as  well  as  by  the  public  at  large.  Mr.  Duncan  entered 
on  the  practice  of  the  law  in  the  Courts  of  this  county  more 
than  fifty  years  ago,  after  a  thorough  preparation,  according 
to  the  usages  of  that  day,  partly  in  the  office  of  the  late  Lev- 
erett  Saltonstall,  so  distinguished  in  his  generation,  and  his 
kinsman  and  friend.  He  pursued  his  profession  here  for 
many  years  with  marked  fidelity  and  success,  always  trusted 
and  respected  by  his  brethren,  until,  having  served  his  state 
honorably  and  usefully  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature, 
he  was  called  by  the  general  voice  of  his  fellow-citizens  into 
the  public  councils  of  the  country,  now  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  since  which  time  he  has  withdrawn  himself  wholly 
from  the  practice  of  the  profession,  and  his  attendance  on  the 
Courts.  Of  late  years  he  has  been  known  as  a  lawyer  to 
much  the  largest  portion  now  in  the  practice  at  this  bar,  only 
by  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  among  whom,  as  well  as  in  the 
Courts,  he  had  obtained,  and  always  held  a  good  report. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  entered  at  length  on  our 
own  records,  and  that  the  President  be  requested  to  present 
to  the  Court  an  attested  copy,  and  to  ask  that  it  be  entered 
of  record  therein,  in  perpetual  remembrance,  and  that  in  to- 
ken of  our  sympathy  with  the  family  of  the  deceased,  the 
clerk  be  directed  to  transmit  them  copies  of  these  proceedings. 
The  foregoing  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Essex  Bar 
Association,  and  presented  to  the  Court,  and  it  was  Ordered 
that  said  resolutions  be  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Court. 


RUFUS  CHOATE. 


Rufus  C  ho  ate  was  born  in  Essex,  in  this  county,  Octo- 
ber 1st,  1799.  He  was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College 
in  1820  ;  and  studied  at  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  with 
William  Wirt,  United  States  Attorney  General,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  in  this  county  in  1823.  He  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  part  of  Danvers  which  is 
now  Peabody,  where  he  remained  some  five  years ;  whilst 
there  he  represented  the  town  of  Danvers  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  two  years,  and  the  county  in  the  Senate  one 
year. 

In  1828  he  removed  to  Salem,  where  he  practised  in  his 
profession  until  1838,  when  he  removed  to  Boston,  where  he 
practised  until  his  death. 

Whilst  in  Salem  he  was  twice  elected  to  the  United  States 
House  of  Representatives.  In  1841  he  was  elected  as  suc- 
cessor to  Daniel  Webster  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

In  June,  1859,  he,  being  in  poor  health,  embarked  for 
England,  hoping  the  change  of  climate  and  scene  would  be 
of  benefit  to  him,  but  he  became  so  ill  that  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  steamer  at  Halifax,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death,  July  13,  1859.  Upon  his  death  the  Bar  of  Boston 
held  a  meeting  in  memoriam,  which  was  addressed  by  Messrs. 
Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  Charles  G.  Loring,  Richard  H.  Dana, 
and  other  distinguished  members  of  the  Suffolk  Bar.  No 
public  proceedings  were  had  in  this  county  upon  his  death. 

It  has  seemed  to  us  to  be  eminently  fitting  that,  in  this 
volume,  a  tribute  should  be  rendered  to  this  remarkable  man, 
who  was  born  in  this  county,  which  was  his  home  for  the 
first  thirty  years  of  his  life,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Essex  Bar  for  ten  years  ;  and  we  give  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Dana  at  the  meeting  in  Boston,  as  follows: — 

"  Mr.  Chairman: — By  your  courtesy, and  the  courtesy  of 
this  Bar,  which  never  fails,  I  occupy  an  earlier  moment  than 


RT7FUS   CHOATE.  9 

I  should  otherwise  be  entitled  to ;  for  the  reason  that  in  a 
few  hours  I  shall  be  called  upon  to  take  a  long  leave  of  the 
Bar  and  of  my  home.  I  cannot  do  that,  sir — I  cannot  do 
that,  without  rising  to  say  one  word  of  what  1  know  and  feel 
upon  this  sad  loss. 

"The  pressure  which  has  been  upon  me  in  the  last  few 
days  of  my  remaining  here  has  prevented  my  making  that 
kind  of  preparation  which  the  example  of  him  whom  we 
commemorate  requires  of  every  man  about  to  address  a  fit 
audience  upon  a  great  subject.  I  can  only  speak  right  on 
what  I  do  feel  and  know. 

"'The  wine  of  life  is  drawn.'  The  'golden  bowl  is 
broken.'  The  age  of  miracles  has  passed.  The  day  of  in- 
spiration is  over.  The  Great  Conqueror,  unseen  and  irresis- 
tible, has  broken  into  our  temple  and  has  carried  off  the  ves- 
sels of  gold,  the  vessels  of  silver,  the  precious  stones,  the 
jewels,  and  the  ivory ;  and,  like  the  priests  of  the  Temple  of 
Jerusalem,  after  the  invasion  from  Babylon,  we  must  content 
ourselves,  as  we  can,  with  vessels  of  wood  and  of  stone  and 
of  iron. 

"  With  such  broken  phrases  as  these,  Mr.  Chairman,  per- 
haps not  altogether  just  to  the  living,  we  endeavor  to  express 
the  emotions  natural  to  this  hour  of  our  bereavement.  Tal- 
ent, industry,  eloquence  and  learning  there  are  still,  and 
always  will  be,  at  the  bar  of  Boston.  But  if  I  say  that  the 
age  of  miracles  has  passed,  that  the  day  of  inspiration  is 
over, — if  I  cannot  realize  that  in  this  place  where  we  now 
are  the  cloth  of  gold  was  spread,  and  a  banquet  set  fit  for 
the  gods, — I  know,  sir,  you  will  excuse  it.  Any  one  who  has 
lived  with  him  and  now  survives  him  will  excuse  it, — any 
one  who,  like  the  youth  in  Wordsworth's  ode, 

"  by  the  vision  splendid, 
Is  on  his  way  attended, 
At  length  .  .  .  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

"  Sir,  I  speak  for  myself, — I  have  no  right  to  speak  for 
others, — but  I  can  truly  say,  without  any  exaggeration,  tak- 
ing for  the  moment  a  simile  from  that  element  which  he 


10  RUFUS    CHOATE. 

loved  as  much  as  I  love  it,  though  it  rose  against  his  life  at 
last, — that  in  his  presence  I  felt  like  the  master  of  a  small 
coasting  vessel,  that  hugs  the  shore,  that  has  run  up  under 
the  lee  to  speak  a  great  homeward-bound  Indiaman,  freighted 
with  silks  and  precious  stones,  spices  and  costly  fabrics,  with 
sky-sails  and  studding  sails  spread  to  the  breeze,  with  the 
nation's  flag  at  her  masthead,  navigated  by  the  mysterious 
science  of  the  fixed  stars,  and  not  unprepared  with  weapons 
of  defence,  her  decks  peopled  with  men  in  strange  costumes, 
speaking  of  strange  climes  and  distant  lands. 

"  All  loved  him,  especially  the  young.  He  never  asserted 
himself,  or  claimed  precedence,  to  the  injury  of  any  man's 
feelings.  Who  ever  knew  him  to  lose  temper  ?  Who  ever 
heard  from  him  an  unkind  word  ?  And  this  is  all  the  more 
strange  from  the  fact  of  his  great  sensitiveness  of  tempera- 
ment. 

"  His  splendid  talents  as  an  orator  need  no  commendation 
here.  The  world  knows  so  much.  The  world  knows  per- 
fectly well  that  juries  after  juries  have  returned  their  ver- 
dicts for  Mr.  Choate's  clients,  and  the  Court  has  entered 
them  upon  the  issues.  The  world  knows  how  he  electrified 
vast  audiences  in  his  more  popular  addresses ;  but,  sir,  the 
world  has  not  known,  though  it  knows  better  now  than  it 
did, — and  the  testimony  of  those  better  competent  than  I  am 
will  teach  it, — that  his  power  here  rested  not  merely  nor 
chiefly  upon  his  eloquence,  but  rested  principally  upon  his 
philosophic  and  dialectic  power.  He  was  the  greatest  master 
of  logic  we  had  amongst  us.  No  man  detected  a  fallacy  so 
quickly,  or  exposed  it  so  felicitously  as  he,  whether  in  scien- 
tific terms  to  the  bench,  or  popularly  to  the  jury ;  and  who 
could  play  with  a  fallacy  as  he  could  ?  Ask  those  venerated 
men  who  compose  our  highest  tribunal,  with  whom  all  mere 
rhetoric  is  worse  than  wasted  when  their  minds  are  bent  to 
the  single  purpose  of  arriving  at  the  true  results  of  their 
science, — ask  them  wherein  lay  the  greatest  power  of  Rufus 
Choate,  and  they  will  tell  you  it  lay  in  his  philosophy,  his 
logic,  and  his  learning. 


KUFUS   CHOATE.  11 

"  He  was,  Sir,  in  two  words,  a  unique  creation.  He  was  a 
strange  product  of  New  England.  Benjamin  Franklin,  John 
Adams,  Samuel  Dexter,  Daniel  Webster,  and  Jeremiah  Ma- 
son seem  to  be  the  natural  products  of  the  soil ;  but  to  me 
this  great  man  always  seemed  as  not  having  an  origin  here 
in  New  England  ;  but  as  if,  by  the  side  of  our  wooden  build- 
ings, or  by  the  side  of  our  time  enduring  granite,  there  had 
risen,  like  an  exhalation,  some  oriental  structure,  with  the 
domes  and  glittering  minarets  of  the  Eastern  world.  Yet 
this  beautiful  fabric,  so  aerial,  was  founded  upon  a  rock. 
We  know  he  digged  his  foundation  deep,  and  laid  it  strong 
and  sure. 

"  I  wished  to  say  a  word  as  to  his  wit,  but  time  would  fail 
me  to  speak  of  everything.  Yet  without  reference  to  that, 
all  I  may  say  would  be  too  incomplete.  His  wit  did  not 
raise  an  uproarious  laugh,  but  created  an  inward  and  home- 
felt  delight,  and  took  up  its  abode  in  your  memory.  The 
casual  word,  the  unexpected  answer  at  the  corner  of  the 
street,  the  remark  whispered  over  the  back  of  his  chair  while 
the  docket  was  calling,  you  repeated  to  the  next  man  you 
met,  and  he  to  the  next,  and  in  a  few  days  it  became  the 
anecdote  of  the  town.  When  as  lawyers  we  met  together,  in 
tedious  hours,  and  sought  to  entertain  ourselves,  we  found 
we  did  better  with  anecdotes  of  Mr.  Choate  than  on  our 
own  original  resources. 

"  Besides  his  eloquence,  his  logic  power,  and  his  wit,  he  pos- 
sessed deep  and  varied  learning.  His  learning  was  accurate, 
too.  He  could  put  his  hand  on  any  Massachusetts  case  as 
quick  as  the  judge  who  decided  it. 

"  But  if  I  were  asked  to  name  that  which  I  regard  as  his 
characteristic, — that  in  which  he  differed  from  other  learned, 
logical  and  eloquent  men  of  great  eminence, — I  should  say 
it  was  his  aesthetic  nature. 

"  Even  under  the  excitement  of  this  moment,  I  should  not 
compare  his  mind  in  the  point  of  mere  force  of  understanding 
(and,  indeed,  he  would  not  have  tolerated  such  a  comparison) 
with  Daniel  Webster ;  and  yet  I  think  we  have  a  right  to  say 


12  RUFUS    CHOATB. 

that,  in  his  aesthetic  nature,  he  possessed  something  to  which 
the  minds  of  Franklin,  Adams,  Dexter,  Mason,  and  Webster, 
were  strangers. 

"  But  I  ask  pardon  of  the  bar.  I  am  not  desirous  of  mak- 
ing these  comparisons. 

"  I  need  not  say,  Sir,  Rufus  Choate  was  a  great  lawyer,  a 
great  jurist,  a  great  publicist,  but  more  than  all  that — and  I 
speak  of  that  which  I  know — his  nature  partook  strongly  of 
the  poetic  element.  It  was  not  something  which  he  could 
put  on  or  off,  but  it  was  born  with  him — I  will  not  say  died 
with  him,  but  it  translated  with  him. 

"  Shakspeare  was  his  great  author.  I  would  have  defied 
even  the  Shakspeare  scholar  to  refer  to  any  passage  of  Shaks- 
peare that  Mr.  Choate  would  not  have  recognized  instantly. 
Next  to  Shakspeare,  I  think  I  have  a  right  to  say  he 
thought  that  he  owed  more  to  Wordsworth  than  to  any  other 
poet.  He  studied  him  before  it  was  the  fashion,  and  before 
his  high  position  had  been  vindicated. 

"Then  he  was,  of  course,  a  great  student  of  Milton,  and 
after  that,  I  think  that  those  poets  who  gained  the  affections 
of  his  youth,  and  wrote  when  he  was  young, — Byron,  Scott, 
Coleridge,  Southey, — had  his  affections  chiefly ;  though  of 
course,  he  read  and  valued  and  studied  Spenser  and  Dryden, 
and,  as  a  satirist  and  a  maker  of  epigrams,  Pope.  This  love  of 
poetry  with  him  was  genuine  and  true.  He  read  and  studied 
always,  not  with  a  view  to  make  ornaments  for  his  speeches, 
but  because  his  nature  drew  him  to  it.  We  all  know  he  was 
a  fine  Greek  and  Latin  scholar  ;  was  accurate ;  he  never  made 
a  false  quantity.  Who  ever  detected  him  in  a  misquotation  ? 
He  once  told  me  he  never  allowed  a  day  to  go  by  that  he  did 
not  write  out  a  translation  from  some  Greek  or  Latin  author. 
This  was  one  of  the  means  by  which  he  gained  his  affluence 
of  language.  Of  Cicero  he  was  a  frequent  student,  particu- 
larly of  his  ethical  and  philosophical  writings.  But  Greek 
was  his  favorite  tongue. 

"  One  word  more,  Sir.  It  is  not  so  generally  known,  I 
suppose,  of  Mr.  Choate,  that,  certainly  during  the  last  ten 


KUFUS   CHOATE.  13 

years  of  his  life,  he  gave  much  of  his  thoughts  to  those  noble 
and  elevating  problems  which  relate  to  the  nature  and  destiny 
of  man,  to  the  nature  of  God,  to  the  great  hereafter  ;  recog- 
nizing Sir,  that  great  truth — so  beautifully  expressed  in  his 
favorite  tongue — in  sacred  writ,  .  .  .  things  not  seen  are 
eternal.  He  studied  not  mere  psychology  ;  he  knew  well  the 
great  schools  of  philosophy;  he  knew  well  their  characteristics, 
and  read  their  leading  men.  I  suspect  he  was  the  first  man 
in  this  community  who  read  Sir  William  Hamilton,  and  Man- 
sel's  work  on  "  The  Limits  of  Religious  Thought ;"  and  I 
doubt  if  the  chairs  of  Harvard  and  Yale  were  more  familiar 
with  the  English  and  German  minds,  and  their  views  on  these 
great  problems,  than  Mr.  Choate. 

"  He  carried  his  study  even  into  technical  theology.  He 
knew  its  genius  and  spirit  better  than  many  divines.  He 
knew  in  detail  the  great  dogmas  of  St.  Augustine ;  and  he 
studied  and  knew  John  Calvin  and  Luther.  He  knew  the 
great  principals  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  Catholic 
theology  and  institutions,  and  the  theology  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal school ;  and  he  knew  and  studied  the  rationalistic  writings 
of  the  Germans,  and  was  familiar  with  their  theories  and 
characteristics. 

"  With  all  those  persons  whom  he  met  and  who  he  felt, 
with  reasonable  confidence,  had  sufficent  elevation  to  value 
these  subjects,  he  conversed  upon  them  freely.  But  beyond 
this — as  to  his  opinions,  his  results — I  have  no  right  to  speak. 
I  only  wished  to  allude  to  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  of 
his  characteristics  ;  and  it  is  peculiarly  gratifying  to  remember, 
at  this  moment,  that  he  had  the  elevation  of  mind  so  to  lay 
hold  upon  the  greatest  of  all  subjects. 

"I  meant  to  have  spoken  of  his  studies  of  the  English 
prose  writers,  among  whom  Bacon  and  Burke  had  his  pref- 
erence. But  he  read  them  all,  and  loved  to  read  them  all ; 
from  the  scholastic  stateliness  of  Milton,  warring  for  the  right 
of  expressing  thoughts  for  all  ages,  to  the  simplicity  of  Cow- 
per's  Letters. 

"  But  all  this  has  gone  from  us.     We  are  never  to  see  him 


14  RTTFUS    CHOATE. 

again  in  the  places  that  knew  him.  To  think  that  he,  of  all 
men,  who  loved  his  home  so,  should  have  died  among 
strangers.  That  he,  of  all  men,  should  have  died  under  a 
foreign  flag.  I  can  go  no  further.  I  can  only  call  upon  all 
to  bear  witness  now,  and  to  the  next  generation,  that  he 
stood  before  us  an  example  of  eminence  in  science,  in  erudi- 
tion, in  genius,  in  taste,  in  honor,  in  generosity,  in  humanity, 
— in  every  liberal  sentiment  and  every  liberal  accomplish- 
ment." 


NATHANIEL  J.  LORD. 


In  the  Superior  Court,  in  session  at  Salem,  Chief  Justice 
Brigham  presiding,  on  Friday,  July  2,  1869,  the  trial  of 
causes  was  suspended,  at  the  request  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Essex  Bar  Association,  that  the  action  of  the  Associa- 
tion on  the  death  of  Mr.  Nathaniel  J.  Lord  might  be 
presented  to  the  court.  There  was  a  full  attendance  of 
the  Bar,  and  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Lord. 

Hon.  Alfred  A.  Abbott,  in  behalf  of  the  committee,  pre- 
sented and  read  the  following  Memorial,  as  directed  by  the 
vote  of  the  Association : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  Es- 
quire, one  of  the  oldest  members  of  this  Bar,  and  for  many 
years  its  most  distinguished  ornament,  departed  this  life  on 
the  eighteenth  day  of  June  last. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  on  the  21st 
ultimo,  to  take  appropriate  action  on  this  sad  event,  a  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  prepare  and  report  some  suitable  ex- 
pression of  the  sentiments  of  the  Bar,  to  be  made  matter  of 
enduring  record.  That  Committee,  in  attending  to  the  duty 
assigned  them,  concluded,  instead  of  reporting  a  series  of 
resolutions,  to  submit  a  brief  and  simple  sketch  of  their  de- 
ceased brother,  as  a  more  fitting  form  of  memorial, — and 
this  humble  and  sincere  tribute  of  appreciation  and  regard, 
having  been,  at  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Association, 
accepted  and  approved,  is  now,  by  its  order,  and  at  the 
earliest  proper  opportunity,  respectfully  presented  to  the 
court. 

Mr.  Lord  was  born  at  Ipswich,  a  former  shire-town  of  this 
county,  on  the  28th  day  of  October,  1805.  He  was  the  oldest 
son  of  Nathaniel  Lord,  Esquire,  for  thirty-six  years  the  Reg- 
ister of  Probate  for  Essex  County, — a  public  officer  of  sin- 
gular capacity  and  fidelity,  and  a  man  whose  sterling  traits 


16  NATHANIEL   J.    LORD. 

of  character,  intellectual  and  moral,  won  the  fullest  confidence 
of  the  community,  and  were  a  choice  and  dearly  prized  leg- 
acy to  his  children. 

Mr.  Lord  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy,  An- 
dover,  entered  Harvard  College  in  1821,  and  was  graduated 
in  course  in  1825.  He  began  his  professional  studies  at  the 
Northampton  Law  School,  under  the  tuition  of  Judge  Howe, 
now  best  known  to  lawyers  by  his  Book  of  Practice,  and  of 
Prof.  Ashmun,  and  completed  his  preparatory  course  in  the 
office  of  the  Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall  of  Salem.  He  was 
admitted  to  practice  as  an  Attorney  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  September,  1828,  as  an  Attorney  in  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  at  the  November  Term,  in  1830,  and  after- 
wards as  a  counsellor,  in  1832.  Upon  coming  to  the  Bar  Mr. 
Lord  opened  an  office  in  Salem,  but  after  a  few  months  he 
formed  a  business  connection  with  Mr.  Saltonstall,  with  whom 
he  continued  as  a  partner  until  1835.  Although  by  this  as- 
sociation he  was  for  a  time  kept  comparatively  in  the  back- 
ground, as  in  all  cases  he  properly  acted  as  Mr.  Saltonstall's 
junior,  yet  it  could  not  have  been  but  of  the  highest  advan- 
tage. A  generation  has  grown  up  since  Mr.  Saltonstall  led 
the  Essex  Bar.  But  many  yet  survive  who  recall,  not  with- 
out a  thrill  of  admiring  recollection,  the  manly  form,  the 
benignant  face,  the  graceful  manners,  the  persuasive  acceuts, 
the  forcible  logic,  the  high  culture,  the  moral  power,  the 
winning  yet  commanding  qualities  of  heart  and  head,  which 
combined  to  make  Leverett  Saltonstall  at  once  the  trusted 
counsellor  and  the  consummate  advocate,  as  well  as  the  en- 
deared friend,  the  favorite  citizen,  and  the  accomplished 
statesman. 

In  1835,  upon  the  dissolution  of  his  partnership  with  Mr. 
Saltonstall,  Mr.  Lord  commenced  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and,  at  once,  from  comparative  obscurity,  he  sprung 
into  full  practice  and  established  reputation,  and  from  this 
time  on  he  stood  in  the  very  front  rank  of  the  profession, 
and  soon,  and  so  long  as  he  continued  in  active  duty,  was 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  our  Bar.     He  had,  at  the  start, 


NATHANIEL   J.    LORD.  17 

to  cope  not  only  with  Mr.  Choate  and  Mr.  Saltonstall — the 
former  of  whom,  always  and  everywhere  facileprineeps,h&d  not 
yet  removed  to  Boston,  and  the  latter  of  whom  still  occasion- 
ally argued  causes  and  swayed  and  led  captive  juries  by  his 
genial  eloquence — but  with  Mr.  Merrill  and  Mr.  King,  distin- 
guished for  their  scholarship  and  abstruse  learning ;  with  the 
late  Judge  Ward,  so  acute,  skilful,  ingenious  and  versatile  ; 
and  with  Mr.  Caleb  Cushing,  Mr.  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  Mr. 
Moseley,  Mr.  Huntington,  Mr.  Stickney,  and  others  yet 
active  at  the  Bar  and  on  the  Bench,  whom  propriety  forbids 
us  to  name,  but  all  of  deserved  eminence  and  great  ability. 
But  he  stood  his  ground  manfully,  and  fairly  vindicated 
his  claim  to  the  first  honors  and  highest  emoluments  of  the 
profession,  and,  until  he  abandoned  practice,  he  was  retained 
as  leading  counsel,  upon  one  side  or  the  other,  in  every 
case  of  considerable  importance  tried  in  our  courts.  Indeed, 
the  repute  of  his  learning  and  ability  led  to  his  being  fre- 
quently called  to  aid  in  the  conduct  of  cases  before  other 
and  remote  tribunals,  but  he  almost  invariably  refused  such 
engagements  where  the  interests  of  his  home  clients  were  not 
at  stake,  preferring  to  spend  his  strength  and  win  his  laurels 
in  his  own  native  county. 

Mr.  Lord  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  vigorous  intellect, 
quick  perceptive  faculties,  large  powers  of  observation,  a  re- 
markably retentive  memory,  great  patience  for  labor,  a  ready 
wit,  an  even  temper,  and  with  all,  a  robust  good  sense  which 
balanced  all  his  powers  and  insured  success  to  all  his  efforts. 
Thus  naturally  gifted,  he  sharpened  every  native  endowment 
by  careful,  systematic,  and  constant  study  and  labor.  He  was 
thoroughly  grounded  in  the  principles  of  the  law,  and  of  its 
practice.  He  studied  at  a  time  when  a  man  had  to  study  to 
be  a  lawyer,  when  the  practice  of  the  law,  as  well  as  its 
principles,  was  a  science  which  must  be  learned.  Several 
large  manuscript  volumes  of  common-place  books  yet  re- 
maining in  his  library  attest  the  system  and  severity  of  that 
early  application  and  discipline  which,  in  after  years,  bore 
such  rich  fruits. 


18  NATHANIEL   J.   LORD. 

To  exact  and  comprehensive  legal  acquirements  Mr.  Lord 
brought  the  aid  and  ornament  of  an  enlarged  and  generous 
culture.  He  was  well  versed  in  polite  letters  and  science, 
had  ever  at  command  resources  and  displayed  the  advantages 
of  a  careful  training  in  the  classics,  and  was  familiar  with, 
and  never  ceased  to  take  delight  in,  the  masterpieces  of 
English  literature. 

Mr.  Lord's  manners  and  bearing,  and  mode  of  conducting 
business  at  the  Bar,  were  of  the  best  school,  and  unexcep- 
tionable. Uniformly  respectful  to  the  court,  and  courteous 
in  his  demeanor,  not  only  to  the  Bench,  but  to  his  brethren 
of  every  degree  ;  graceful  and  dignified  in  person  and  address  ; 
clear,  concise  and  impressive  in  argument  and  appeal ;  in  his 
treatment  of  witnesses  civil  and  urbane,  never  overbearing 
or  harsh,  and  yet  with  consummate  art,  exposing  prejudice, 
unmasking  falsehood,  and  establishing  truth,  with  a  keen 
sense  of  professional  honor  and  integrity,  and  ever  alive  to 
the  obligations  of  the  law  and  its  ministers,  as  well  as  to  the 
interest  of  his  clients,  he  may  well  be  held  up  as  a  model  for 
the  guidance  and  imitation  of  those  who  succeed  him. 

Should  it  be  asked  what  characteristics  of  Mr.  Lord,  as  a 
practising  lawyer,  most  attracted  the  attention  of  his  contem- 
poraries, the  question  may  be  answered  by  particularizing 
two  respects,  one  intellectual  and  the  other  moral,  in  which  he 
was  marked.  As  to  the  first,  it  may  be  said  that  all  his  profes- 
sional efforts  were  singularly  neat,  finished,  elegant  and  com- 
plete. He  was  in  the  habit  of  making  copious  minutes  of  evi- 
dence, made  very  full  briefs,  went  through  the  most  careful 
preparation,  and  though  polished  and  ornate,  was  yet  concise, 
compact,  and  comparatively  brief, — but  whether  arguing  a 
grave  question  before  the  full  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
or  addressing  a  Jury  in  a  case  of  the  largest  moment,  or  try- 
ing a  trivial  cause  in  the  office  of  a  country  Justice,  he  always 
evinced  the  same  marks  of  anxious  care,  of  study,  of  elabor- 
ation, was  always  teres  atque  rotundus, — and  when  his  work 
was  ended,  it  was  felt  that  there  had  been  congruity,  propor- 
tion, completion,  and  that  nothing  was  left  to  be  said  or  done. 


NATHANIEL  J.   LORD.  19 

The  second  prominent  feature  was  one  already  glanced  at, 
his  urbane  deportment,  his  high  sense  of  prof  essional  propriety, 
his  liberality  in  pratice,  and  above  all  his  kind  consideration 
for,  and  generous  treatment  of,  his  juniors  and  inferiors  at  the 
Bar.  His  eminent  position  and  acknowledged  superiority 
gave  added  grace  to  this  amiable  trait,  which  now  pecu- 
liarly endears  him  in  many  memories. 

Like  most  lawyers  who  have  had  the  greatest  success  in  ac- 
tive forensic  practice,  Mr.  Lord  has  left  behind  him  no  work 
to  illustrate  his  talents  and  learning,  nothing  to  perpetuate 
his  name  and  fame.  He  was  never  in  what  is  called  public 
life,  and  never  held  public  office.  He  had  decided  views  upon 
political  questions,  and  to  the  last  adhered  tenaciously  to  the 
principles  which  he  espoused  in  early  manhood, — but  he  did 
not  belong  to  the  popular  and  prevailing  side,  and  so  was  de- 
barred the  opportunity  of  adorning  any  post  of  civic  honor 
and  trust, — and  it  may  well  be  doubted  if  he  would  willingly 
have  assumed  any  such  position  had  it  been  in  his  way.  His 
whole  heart  was  in  his  profession,  here  was  his  pride  and  am- 
bition, here  his  love  and  joy,  here  his  aspirations  and  triumphs. 
There  is,  perhaps,  one  enduring  work  with  which  his  name 
will  be  associated,  but  whether  he  would  have  regarded 
it  as  an  appropriate  memorial  may  justly  be  questioned.  With 
Judge  Curtis  and  Chief  Justice  Chapman,  he  was  of  the  Com- 
mission appointed  by  the  Executive  of  the  Commonwealth  to 
prepare  the  present  Practice  Art.  Although  in  the  main  the 
result  of  their  labors  has  met  the  approval  of  the  profession, 
and  now  has  the  sanction  of  usage  and  time,  yet,  as  has  been 
well  known  to  his  friends,  under  the  construction  given  to  it 
by  the  courts,  this  act  has  failed  fairly  to  realize  Mr.  Lord's 
intentions,  as  well  as  those  of  at  least  one  of  his  associates. 
Conservative,  while  progressive,  it  was  his  purpose  that  the 
act  should  prevent  double  pleading,  as  much  as  did  the  old 
system  of  special  pleading, — that  there  was  to  be  "  yes  "  or 
"  no  "  to  every  allegation,  and  not  a  denial  of  an  allegation, 
and,  in  case  of  that  allegation  being  proved,  an  alternative 
answer.     So  that  this  only  surviving  professional  work,  by 


20  NATHANIEL  J.   LORD. 

which  he  will  hereafter  be  known,  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a 
faithful  embodiment  of  his  ideas  of  a  true  system  of  legal 
practice,  or  as  a  truthful  monument  to  his  name.  Hereafter, 
like  so  many  of  our  ablest  and  best  who  have  gone  before 
him,  he  must  survive  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends  who  loved 
him  so  fondly  and  whom  he  loved  so  well,  in  the  cherished 
traditions  of  the  Bar,  in  the  respectful  memory  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived  and  labored,  and  in  the  record  of  a 
useful,  honorable,  and  upright  life. 

In  the  autumn  of  1853,  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  and  while 
apparently  in  the  full  vigor  of  health,  Mr.  Lord  was  suddenly 
prostrated  by  disease.  Under  medical  advice  he  went  abroad, 
in  the  hope  that  change  of  air  and  scene,  and  rest  from  labor, 
would  restore  his  drooping  energies.  He  returned,  much  im- 
proved, but  still  unfit  for  active  duty.  The  bow  could  not 
again  be  bent.  Wisely,  though  reluctantly,  he  withdrew  from 
the  field,  and  sought  in  retirement  the  repose  he  had  so 
dearly  earned.  From  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death,  al- 
though suffering  from  a  complication  of  ills  which  would 
have  borne  down  one  of  less  fortitude  and  patience,  he  re- 
tained through  all  full  possession  of  his  mental  faculties,  pre- 
served an  even  temper  and  a  cheerful  spirit,  enjoyed  life  and 
the  companionship  of  kindred  and  friends,  kept  informed 
and  was  an  attentive  observer  of  current  events,  and,  espec- 
ially in  all  that  related  to  the  courts  and  his  old  associates 
and  successors  at  the  Bar,  evinced  the  liveliest  interest  and 
the  deepest  concern.  And  so,  as  the  last  hours  drew  on,  calm 
and  resigned,  he  awaited  the  end  in  full  religious  faith  and 
hope,  and  in  his  death,  as  in  his  life,  left  to  his  brethren  a 
bright  example  and  a  precious  memory. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  in  behalf  of  the  Com- 
mittee, and  in  behalf  of  the  Bar  Association,  whose  organ 
they  are,  I  respectfully  move  your  Honor  that  this  humble 
tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  our  deseased  brother  be 
placed  upon  the  records  of  the  court. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  Abbott  was  seconded  by  Wm.  C.  Endi- 
cott,  Esq.,  as  follows  : — 


NATHANIEL   J.   LORD.  21 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — I  have  already  in  this  place 
on  another  occasion,  endeavored  to  express  my  appreciation 
of  the  character,  abilities  and  acquirements  of  Mr.  Lord,  and 
to  pay  a  heartfelt  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory.  I  do  not 
desire  to  say  more  now.  Certainly  I  can  add  nothing  to  the 
touching  and  truthful  memorial  prepared  by  Mr.  Abbott  and 
here  presented  to  the  Court.  It  gives  us  a  recital  of  his  life 
and  labors,  an  analysis  of  his  intellectual  powers  and  various 
talents,  a  portrait  of  the  man  himself,  which  we  can  all  dwell 
upon  with  pleasure,  and  which  will  inform  those  who  come 
after  us  what  manner  of  man  he  was.  It  meets  with  the  full 
approval  of  the  Bar;  and,  in  behalf  of  the  Bar,  I  second  the 
motion  made  by  Mr.  Abbott. 

Hon.  Asahel  Huntington  then  spoke  as  follows  : — 

May  it  please  the  Court  : — I  desire  to  express  my  full 
and  most  cordial  concurrence  in  these  proceedings.  The  brief 
and  truly  appreciative  sketch  of  the  life,  the  personal  and  pro- 
fessional character  and  standing  of  our  brother  Lord,  which 
our  Association  here  presents  to  the  court,  and  desires  to  have 
entered  on  its  records  in  perpetual  remembrance,  as  our  will- 
ing tribute,  and  deliberate  judgment,  will  not  be  held  or  re- 
garded as  exaggerated  or  overdrawn,  in  any  quarter  where  he 
was  known  and  justly  estimated.  He  is  presented  here  as 
he  was  known  to  the  courts  and  the  Bar,  to  his  near  and  in- 
timate friends,  and  to  the  public  at  large.  All  his  active  busi- 
ness life  was  mainly  in  the  courts,  and  in  the  faithful  and 
laborious  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  profession.  His  aims 
and  ambitions  were  strictly  professional,  and  he  relied  upon 
himself  for  success  and  advancement.  The  places  and  persons 
which  knew  him  best  and  most,  outside  of  the  circle  of  kin- 
dred and  personal  friends,  were  courts  and  clients,  juries  and 
witnesses,  and  his  associates  at  the  Bar. 

I  have  known  Mr.  Lord  from  his  first  entrance  on  profes- 
sional life,  and  through  all  his  subsequent  and  distinguished 
career.  1  recollect  well  the  impression  he  made  at  the  very 
commencement.     He  showed  at  first,  and  in  the  start,  those 


22  NATHANIEL  J.   LORD. 

traits,  qualities,  and  signs,  which  clearly  indicate  to  all  ob- 
servers what  his  course  was  to  be,  and  what  rank  he  would 
be  likely  to  occupy  in  his  profession.  I  remember  an  early 
cause  in  which  he  was  retained,  and  which  came  on  for  trial 
in  the  old  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at  Ipswich.  It  must  have 
been  within  a  year  or  two  after  his  admission  to  the  Bar.  It 
was  a  cause  of  some  public  interest,  and  the  court-room  was 
crowded.  He  was  there  in  his  native  town,  surrounded  by 
his  friends  and  kindred.  He  was  junior  counsel  and  had  the 
opening,  but  whether  for  plaintiff  or  defendant,  it  has  now 
escaped  me ;  but  this  I  know  and  remember,  that  he  showed  a 
thorough  mastery  of  his  case,  as  he  proceeded  from  one  point 
to  another,  in  clear  and  logical  order,  and  in  that  terse  and 
strong  style  of  expression,  for  which  he  was  afterwards  so 
much  distinguished  ;  and  showing  also,  what  has  often  been 
remarked,  that  sometimes  the  right  and  skilful  opening  of  a 
cause  may  be  as  important  as  the  close  and  summing  up,  and 
furnish  quite  as  much  scope  for  discrimination,  judgment  and 
real  ability.  At  any  rate,  such  was  the  force,  strength,  and 
completeness  of  this  particular  performance,  that  I  well  re- 
member a  brother  lawyer,  a  few  years  the  senior  of  Mr.  Lord, 
and  even  then  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  Bar,  in  the  gen- 
eral estimate  of  the  profession  and  of  the  public,  and  a 
native  also  of  the  old  town  of  Ipswich,  who  had  been  a  care- 
ful listener,  broke  out  at  the  conclusion  with  some  hearty 
expression  of  approval,  in  his  own  peculiar  and  inimitable 
manner.  I  refer  to  this  particular  case  only  to  show  what 
sort  of  impression  our  friend  and  brother  made,  when  he  first 
entered  on  the  contests  of  the  profession.  His  whole  life  after- 
wards was  full  of  just  such  exhibitions  of  intellectual  power, 
only  of  wider  scope  and  breadth,  as  he  matured  in  strength 
and  experience,  in  his  full  manhood.  And  this  is  known  and 
read  of  all  men  who  have  been  conversant  with  our  courts. 
Mr.  Lord  has  had  long  experience  of  sickness  and  disease. 
How  he  bore  himself  in  this  great  and  severe  trial — how  un- 
complaining and  unrepining  always ;  how  cheerful  and  inter- 
ested in  passing  events,  or  in  whatever  concerned  the  welfare 


NATHANIEL   J.    LORD.  23 

of  his  friends  ;  in  what  a  cordial  manner  he  always  received 
his  friends,  and  how  warmly  he  sought  to  keep  up  the  com- 
munion of  his  friendships — who  that  has  visited  him  in  that 
chamber  of  sickness,  during  those  many  and  long  years,  has 
not  seen  and  admired  ?  It  happened  to  me  to  visit  him,  not 
many  days  before  his  death,  and  to  report  to  him,  as  the  al- 
moner of  his  bounty,  how  gratefully  it  had  been  received,  and 
how  it  touched  the  heart  and  feelings  of  an  old  and  esteemed 
friend.  He  referred,  in  the  kindest  manner,  to  the  early  scenes 
which  gave  rise  to  this  friendship,  and  to  his  happiness  in 
being  able  thus  to  manifest  his  sympathy  and  regard. 

Mr.  Lord's  death,  though  he  had  evidently  been  declining 
for  some  weeks,  was  at  the  last  sudden.  He  had  invited, 
several  weeks  ago,  a  venerable  and  beloved  relative  to  dine 
with  him  today ;  and  this  day  that  relative  enters  on  his 
ninetieth  year  (the  special  occasion  of  the  invitation),  and  is 
here  present,  to  witness  these  proceedings  in  honor  of  the 
memory  of  his  nephew.  In  this  coincidence,  alike  striking 
and  affecting,  and  in  these  events,  we  see  how  the  Divine 
Will  shapes  our  ends  and  determines  our  bounds. 

In  addition  to  the  motion  already  made,  and  as  an  amend- 
ment thereto,  I  move  that  an  attested  copy  of  these  proceed- 
ings, in  token  of  our  sympathy,  be  sent  to  the  family  of  Mr. 
Lord,  under  the  order  of  the  court. 

Chief  Justice  Brigham  then  addressed  the  Bar  as  follows  : — 
Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  : — The  memorial  tribute  of  the  Es- 
sex Bar,  in  honor  of  their  deceased  brother,  Nathaniel  J. 
Lord,  will  be  placed  among  the  records  of  this  court,  as  a 
part  of  the  history  of  the  administration  of  justice  in  this 
county,  and  an  attested  copy  of  these  proceedings  will  be 
sent  to  his  family  in  accordance  with  the  motion  just  made. 
Mr.  Lord,  although  in  the  full  ripeness  of  his  faculties  as 
a  lawyer,  ten  years  ago — when  this  court  was  organized — 
was  so  disabled,  by  extreme  physical  infirmity,  that  he  could 
not  appear  before  its  justices,  and  thus  they  have  lost  the  op- 
portunity of  recognizing,  in  person,  the  various  professional 
accomplishments  which  he  was  reputed  to  possess  in  an  emi- 


24  NATHANIEL   J.    LORD. 

nent  degree.  Throughout  the  Commonwealth  he  was  known 
as  the  leading  counsel  of  this  county,  and  as  such,  worthily 
qualified,  by  learning,  tact  and  skill  in  the  trial  of  causes, 
eloquence,  and  "  fidelity  as  well  to  the  courts  as  to  his  clients," 
to  succeed  those  lawyers,  of  a  preceding  generation,  who  had 
left  the  leadership  of  the  Essex,  to  become  the  leaders  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bar. 

The  professional  lives  of  lawyers,  although  constantly  in- 
fluential in  the  events  which  constitute  the  most  important 
material   of  history,    rarely   receive   from   analists   an   ade- 
quate acknowledgment  of  their  significance.     A  lawyer,  in 
conducting  matters  of  litigation,  is  often  the  first  to  suggest 
questions  of  legal  principle,  so  original  in  their  nature  as  to 
fairly  deserve  the  title  of  discoveries ;  he  may  debate  such 
questions  with  so  abundant  learning,  and  so  large  ability, 
that   through   him  principally,  if  not  solely,  may  be  main- 
tained   and  established  great  principles  of  law,  which  will 
fundamentally   affect  the  most  valued  municipal,  political, 
and  religious  institutions ;  and  the  only  record  of  his  impres- 
sive labor  will  be  found  in  a  complimentary  phrase  in  a  news- 
paper, a  line  in  the  books  of  "Reports  of  Cases,"  or  the  law 
pleadings  to  which  he  has  affixed  his  name.     After  his  pro- 
fessional career  is  finished,  perhaps  the  lawyers  of  his  own, 
and  of  the  next  following  generation,  will  recite  one  to  an- 
other anecdotes  of  his  professional  and  personal  eccentrici- 
ties, the  pleasantries  by  which  he  enlivened  the  rigors,  or  the 
audacity  by  which  he  encountered  the  exigences  of  a  law- 
suit; but  the  character  thus  preserved  and  transmitted  by 
tradition  will  usually  be  more  scandalous  than  just  as  to  the 
man  and  his  vocation,  and  demean  the  nobler  attributes  of 
both.     Lawyers  who,  during  the  years  ordinarily  allotted  to 
man  for  effective  work,  have  manfully  accepted  the  vicissi- 
tudes, and  uprightly  won  the  distinctions  of  their  profession  ; 
sparing  themselves  none  of  its  toils,  and  contenting  themselves 
with  its  honors,  although  conscious  that  they  will  be  undeser- 
vedly ephemeral ;  who  in  every  function  of  that  profession 
have  been  altogether  faithful  and  excellent,  are  left  to  rely 


NATHANIEL  J.   LORD.  25 

upon  their  brethren,  who  have  been  familiar  with  their  lives 
and  survive  them,  to  declare  and  perpetuate  their  testimony 
of  the  scope,  influence,  worth  and  elevation  of  those  lives. 

Considerations  such  as  these  make  it  a  grateful  service  for 
a  Judge  to  join  his  brethren  at  the  Bar  in  a  fraternal  effort 
to  save  to  their  profession  and  to  the  State  fitting  memorials 
of  a  lawyer,  who,  during  twenty-five  years'  exercise  of  his 
office,  as  an  attorney  and  counsellor  in  all  the  courts,  has 
justified  the  felicitous  and  discriminating  sketch  of  his  pro- 
fessional career,  which  introduced  these  proceedings. 

The  court  then  adjourned. 


JEREMIAH  C.  STICKNEY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  September 
7,  1869,  Messrs.  Thomas  B.  Newhall,  Alfred  Kittredge, 
Asahel  Huntington,  Daniel  Saunders  Jr.  and  George  Wheat- 
land were  chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  on  the 
death  of  Jeremiah  C.  Stickney,  to  be  presented  to  the 
Superior  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  at  Sepember  term,  1869,  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington presented  the  following  memorial,  which  was 
ordered  to  be  entered  of  record. 

The  Essex  Bar  Association  desires  to  present  to  the  Court 
here  some  memorial  to  be  entered  on  its  records,  of  the  life 
and  character  of  the  late  Jeremiah  Chaplin  Stickney,  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  respected  members  of  this  Bar.  He  was 
born  in  Salem  on  the  sixth  day  of  January,  1805,  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1824,  and  afterwards 
studied  law  for  the  full  term  of  three  years,  in  the  office  and 
under  the  tuition  of  the  late  Judge  Cummins,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  learned  practitioners  of  this  Bar  at  that 
period.  He  was  admitted  an  attorney  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  at  the  September  term,  1827,  an  attorney  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,  at  the  November  term,  1829,  and  a 
Counsellor  at  the  November  term,  1831.  He  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  the  town  of  Lynn,  and  prosecuted 
it  there,  with  great  honor,  integrity  and  success  for  more  than 
forty  years.  He  has  been  withdrawn  of  late  from  his  atten- 
dance on  the  Courts,  on  account  of  the  condition  of  his  health 
but  he  has  been  for  most  of  the  time,  with  occasional  inter- 
ruptions a  diligent  and  laborious  worker,  in  his  office,  at  home ; 
and  has  conducted  a  large  professional  business.     His  clients 


JEREMIAH    C.    8TICKNEY.  27 

were  always  well  served,  and  they  adhered  to  him  with  great 
constancy,  in  sickness  and  in  health.  He  was  a  thoroughly 
trained  lawyer  was  well  furnished  and  grounded  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  common  law,  and  was  familiar  with  the  practice 
and  precedents  of  the  Courts.  Such  has  been  his  career  in 
his  profession,  such  his  life  long  integrity  of  character,  and 
such  his  marked  ability  in  the  discharge  of  all  trusts  com- 
mitted to  him,  whether  in  or  out  of  his  profession,  that  he  al- 
ways commanded  and  enjoyed,  in  very  large  measure,  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  the  Courts,  of  the  profession,  and  of  the 
public  at  large. 

He  was  possessed  of  the  most  genial  and  kindly  feelings, 
greatly  endeared  to  his  more  intimate  friends,  and  was  an  ex- 
ample of  all  that  was  civil,  courteous,  considerate,  and  of  good 
report,  in  the  various  relations  of  life.  We  may  well  regard 
Mr.  Stickney  as  one  of  our  number,  who,  in  the  course  of  an 
unusually  long  professional  life,  has  brought  no  discredit  on 
this  Bar,  but  by  his  high  character  and  ability,  his  urbane 
manners  and  deportment,  has  done  very  much  to  give  it  that 
consideration  it  enjoys  in  this  community.  In  the  dispen- 
sation of  a  wise  Providence  the  time  had  come  for  him  to 
leave  these  scenes  of  earth,  and  the  places  which  knew  him 
here,  are  to  know  him  no  more.  He  died  peacefully  in  his 
own  home,  surrounded  by  his  family  and  friends,  after  a  short 
sickness,  on  the  third  day  of  August  last.  Thus  has  passed 
away  from  our  sight,  one  of  our  elder  brethren,  long  and 
honorably  known  to  the  Courts,  whose  struggles  and  ambi- 
tions here  are  now  ended.  One  who  has  labored  faithfully 
and  truly  in  his  day  and  generation,  and  of  good  report  always 
as  a  lawyer,  a  citizen  and  a  man.  We  will  cherish  his  mem- 
ory and  desire  that  this  simple  tribute  be  entered  of  record  in 
this  Court,  in  perpetual  remembrance  of  our  departed  friend 
and  brother. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  proceedings  be  presented  to 
the  Court  by  the  president  of  the  association,  with  the  re- 


28  JEREMIAH   C.    STICKNEY. 

quest  that  the  same  be  entered  of  record  therein,  and  in  ex- 
pression of  our  sympathy,  that  a  copy  thereof  be  sent  to  the 
family  of  Mr.  Stickney,  by  direction  of  the  Court. 

The  foregoing  proceedings  were  presented  to  the  Court, 
and  it  was  ordered  that  the  same  be  entered  of  record,  and  a 
copy  sent  to  the  family  of  Mr.  Stickney. 


ASAHEL  HUNTINGTON. 


On  Monday,  Sept.  19th,  1870,  in  the  Superior  Court,  then 
in  session  in  Salem,  Judge  Putnam  presiding,  at  three  P.M., 
the  cause  on  trial  was  suspended  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
Bar  might  be  presented  to  the  Court.  Notice  had  been  prev- 
iously given,  and  there  was  a  large  attendance  of  the  Bar, 
and  many  citizens  and  friends  of  Mr.  Huntington  were  present. 

Mr.  Alfred  A.  Abbott  then  read  the  following 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — The  Hon.  Asahel  Hunt- 
ington, one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  Essex  Bar,  and,  at 
the  time  of  his  decease, its  senior  member  in  active  professional 
labor,  departed  this  life  on  Monday,  the  5th  instant,  at  the 
age  of  three  score  and  twelve  years. 

On  the  day  following,  the  6th  instant,  at  the  coming  in  of 
the  Court  for  the  present  term,  at  Newburyport,  a  meeting  of 
the  Essex  Bar  Association  was  held,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  embody  in  suitable  form  the  sentiments  of  the 
members  of  the  Bar,  upon  the  death  of  their  distinguished 
brother  and  friend  ;  and  the  action  of  that  committee  having 
been  approved  and  adopted  by  the  Association,  is  now,  by 
its  order,  respectfully  presented  to  the  Court,  that  the  same 
may  be  entered  upon  its  records,  there  to  testify  to  those  who 
shall  come  after  them,  the  respect,  veneration  and  love,  with 
which  his  brethren  cherished  the  memory  of  the  lamented 
dead. 

Mr.  Huntington  was  born  at  Topsfield  in  this  county,  July 
23d,  1798.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Asahel  Huntington, 
the  congregational  minister  of  that  town,  a  man  of  the  old 
New  England  type,  the  influence  of  whose  sterling  traits  and 
wise  counsels  did  much  to  mould  the  character  and  shape  the 
life  of  his  distinguished  son.  He  was  fitted  for  College  at 
Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  graduated  in  course  at  Yale,  in 


30  ASA.HEL    HUNTINGTON. 

1819,  and  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  offices  of  Mr. 
Scott,  of  Newburyport,  and  Judge  Cummins,  of  Salem.  He 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  at 
the  March  Term,  1824  (having  spent  a  portion  of  his  time 
after  leaving  college,  in  teaching),  was  made  an  Attorney  of 
the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  at  the  November  Term,  1826, 
and  two  years  thereafter  became  a  Counsellor.  Upon  his 
first  coming  to  the  Bar,  he  commenced  business  in  Salem 
(where  he  remained  through  his  whole  life),  and  at  once  en- 
tered upon  a  professional  career,  busy,  eventful,  useful  and 
honored,  from  the  first  to  last. 

In  1830,  Mr.  Huntington  had  so  established  his  position 
and  vindicated  his  claims  to  preferment,  that  he  was  appointed 
County  Attorney,  subsequently  District  Attorney  (his  field 
embracing  Essex  and  a  part  of  Middlesex),  and  afterwards 
Attorney  for  the  Eastern  District,  and  this  post  of  prosecut- 
ing officer  he  filled  for  nearly  twenty  years.  To  many 
of  the  present  generation  of  lawyers  his  discharge  of  these 
official  duties  is  matter  of  tradition.  But  they  have  heard 
from  his  earlier  cotemporaries,  of  the  zeal,  the  energy,  the 
perseverance,  the  fearlessness  and  fidelity,  the  marked  ability 
and  the  moral  force  with  which  he  vindicated  the  majesty  of 
the  law  and  pursued  and  punished  crime.  It  was  in  this  po- 
sition that  Mr.  Huntington  won  a  reputation  which  was  not 
confined  to  his  native  county,  but  gained  a  name  and  fame 
throughout  the  Commonwealth.  He  had  to  meet  and  con- 
tend  with  strong  opponents,  and  was  engaged  in  not  a  few 
cases  which  have  become  historic,  but  he  shunned  no  en- 
counter, and  proved  himself  equal  to  every  emergency.  Mr. 
Choate,  who  came  to  the  Bar  in  the  same  year  with  Mr. 
Huntington,  and  between  whom  and  Mr.  Huntington  there 
existed  an  ardent  friendship  which  was  of  lifelong  duration, 
Mr.  Saltonstall,  Mr.  Cushing,  Mr.  Rantoul,  Mr.  Nathaniel  J. 
Lord,  Mr.  Ward,  with  many  others  of  eminent  ability  and 
skill,  some  of  whom  have  passed  away,  and  others  of  whom 
yet  survive  to  dignify  the  Bench  or  adorn  the  Bar,  were  the 
men  whom  our  deceased  friend  encountered  in  forensic  strife, 


ASAHEL   HUNTINGTON.  31 

and  always  with  credit  and  honor.  In  the  noted  Wyman 
trial  he  had  to  cope  with  Daniel  Webster,  and  although  the 
greatest  lawyer  of  his  age  then  exerted  to  the  utmost  his  gi- 
gantic powers  in  defence  of  his  client,  the  Government  found 
in  its  Attorney  an  undaunted  and  worthy  representative,  who 
fairly  divided  the  honors  of  the  famous  struggle. 

Mr.  Huntington's  labors  were  by  no  means  limited  to  the 
criminal  side  of  the  Court.  He  had  an  extensive  general 
practice,  and  was  retained  in  many  of  the  more  important 
civil  causes  of  his  day.  He  had  always  great  and  acknowl- 
edged strength  with  an  Essex  county  jury.  In  the  first  place, 
he  was  emphatically  an  Essex  county  man.  A  native,  proud 
of  the  old  Shire,  familiar  with  her  historic  days  and  names, 
knowing  all  her  local  traditions,  and  conversant  with  her  men 
and  business,  heartily  sustaining  every  movement  and  sup- 
porting every  institution  which  promised  to  advance  her 
prosperity  and  welfare,  from  youth  to  old  age  he  was  an  em- 
bodiment of  the  average  sentiment  of  Essex  county,  in  morals, 
politics  and  religion,  and  peculiarly  one  of  her  representative 
men.  Then,  as  a  lawyer,  he  entered  with  his  whole  soul  into 
whatever  cause  he  espoused.  Sanguine,  impassioned,  vehe- 
ment, not  so  much  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  cases  and  the 
nice  learning  of  the  law,  as  well  grounded  in  its  general  and 
fundamental  principles  and  familiar  with  and  skilled  in  its 
practice,  with  a  homely  but  strong  logic,  a  manly  good  sense 
and  sound  judgment,  a  large  acquaintance  with  men  and  af- 
fairs, and  a  perseverance  and  tenacity  of  purpose  which 
sometimes  even  verged  on  obstinacy,  with  a  flow  of  good  humor 
and  at  the  same  time  a  caustic  wit  and  power  of  satire  which 
could  be  made  terribly  severe,  with  a  sort  of  sledge-ham- 
mor  style  of  enforcing  his  points,  and  beating  them  into  con- 
victions in  the  minds  of  others,  and  all  this  set  off  by  a  bluff, 
cordial,  and  hearty  manner,  and  aided  by  the  moral  effect  of 
a  private  character  above  reproach,  it  is  not  strange  that  Mr. 
Huntington  had  the  confidence  alike  of  clients  and  juries, 
that  he  was  an  eminently  successful  practitioner  and  advo- 
cate, and  that  he  always  kept  in  the  front  rank  of  the  very 
ablest  of  his  cotemporaries. 


32  ASAHEL   HUNTINGTON. 

In  1851,  Mr.  Huntington,  waiving  the  pursuit  of  higher 
honors  to  which  he  might  well  have  aspired,  accepted  the  ap- 
pointment of  Clerk  of  the  Courts  for  the  County,  and  in  that 
office  remained  to  the  day  of  his  death.     It  was  in  this  posi- 
tion that  he  was  best  known  to,  and  will  be  more  particular- 
ly remembered  bj-,  a  majority  of  the  present  members  of  the 
Bar.     There  is  no  professional  place  more  responsible  than 
this,  none  the  incumbent  of  which  can  do  more  for  the  con- 
venience and  comfort  of  his  brethren,  or  for  the  orderly,  re- 
putable, and  correct  administration  of  justice.     And,  accord- 
ingly, the  proper  qualifications  for  it  are  exceptional  and  rare. 
To  a  sufficient  degree  of  clerical  accomplishments  should  be 
added  an  experimental  knowledge  of  wide  and  varied  prac- 
tice, a  full  familiarity  with  the  routine  of  business  in  the  dif- 
ferent courts,  aptness,  facility,  promptness  and  method,  criti- 
cal accuracy  and  generous  culture,  patience  and  good  temper, 
with  decision  and  firmness,  and,  crowning  all,  that  integrity 
of  life,  that  affability  of  manners  and  dignity  of  presence  and 
demeanor  which  can  aid  so  much  in  securing  respect  for  our 
judicial  tribunals.     To  say  that  Mr.  Huntington  reached  in 
full  perfection  this  ideal  standard,  would  be  to  attribute  to 
him  attainments  and  graces  which  were  rarely  if  ever  united 
in  one  man.     But  that  he  combined  these  qualifications  to  a 
remarkable  extent,  will  be  readily  agreed.     In  no  county  of 
the  Commonwealth  have  the  proceedings  in  Court  been  con- 
ducted   with  more  propriety,  decorum  and  success  than  in 
Essex  during  his  incumbency,  and,  upon  the  concurrent  tes- 
timony of  judges  and  lawyers,  there  is  no  county  in  which 
the  Clerk  has  done  more  to  systematize  the  practice,  elevate 
the  tone  of  manners  and  morals,  and  lend  dignity  and  grace 
to  the  public  administration  of  the  law.     Bench  and  Bar  will 
deeply  feel  the  irreparable  loss  occasioned  by  his  death,  but 
by  his  brethren  of  Essex  will  it  be  the  most  keenly  appre- 
ciated.    To  the  old  he  has  been  a  trusted  adviser;  to  the 
young  a  wise  and  faithful  mentor ;  to  all  a  counsellor  and 
friend.     He  has  held  up  and  inculcated  the  highest  standards 
of  professional  duty  and  honor.     He  has  in  his  own  example 


ASAHEL  HUNTINGTON.  33 

furnished  a  striking  model  of  professional  conduct  and  cour- 
tesy. He  has  ever  taken  the  liveliest  interest  in  whatever  con- 
cerned the  good  name  or  welfare  of  his  associates.  He  has 
kept  fresh  the  memories  of  the  great  lawyers  of  other  days,  and 
encouraged  and  inspired  us  by  the  recital  of  their  achieve- 
ments and  successes.  In  an  especial  manner  has  he  labored 
to  preserve  the  decent  observance  of  those  mortuary  tributes 
and  rites  which  our  fraternal  relations  so  fully  justify  and 
demand.  No  worthy  brother  has  passed  away,  whether  from 
the  obscure  retirement  of  old  age  and  infirmity,  or  from  the 
arena  of  active  duties,  but  that  Mr.  Huntington  has  been  the 
first  to  recall  and  rehearse  in  charitable  and  affectionate 
words  his  merits,  and  to  pay  to  his  memory  the  last  tokens  of 
regard.  And  now  that  he  too  has  gone,  what  less  can  we  do 
than  pause  for  a  moment  in  our  busy  course,  drop  a  loving 
tear  upon  his  new-made  grave,  and  while  we  recall  with  ad- 
miring recollection  the  strong  mind,  the  resolute  will,  the 
kind  heart,  the  eloquent  speech,  the  genial  presence,  thank 
God  for  the  blessing  of  his  upright  and  useful  life,  testify  to 
all  men  our  appreciation  of  his  worth,  and  here,  within  these 
walls  where  the  echoes  of  his  voice  and  the  light  of  his  coun- 
tenance seem  yet  to  linger,  piously  resolve  to  imitate  his  vir- 
tues and  profit  by  his  noble  example. 

Although  what  Mr.  Huntington  was,  and  what  he  did  as 
a  lawyer,  is  of  more  particular  interest  to  his  brethren,  yet 
any  sketch  of  him  would  be  imcomplete  which  failed  to  make 
some  mention  of  his  life  and  labors  outside  of  his  profession. 
From  early  manhood  he  always  took  a  prominent  part  in 
public  affairs.  His  fellow  citizens  commanded  his  services 
in  the  State  Legislature,  in  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1853,  as  Mayor  of  the  city  of  his  residence,  as  the  head  of 
various  institutions  and  corporations — and  there  was  no  good 
cause  or  deserving  enterprise  of  his  day  in  which  he  did  not 
warmly  enlist  and  support  with  all  his  characteristic  zeal  and 
ability.  Probably  no  man  personally  knew  or  was  personally 
known  to  so  many  of  the  people  of  Essex  county,  especially 
of  the  older  class,  and  by  all  he  was  held  in  respect,  by  mul- 


34  ASAHEL  HUNTINGTON. 

titudes  with  strong  personal  regard.  He  was  an  active,  earn- 
est and  loyal  citizen,  a  kind  and  hospitable  neighbor,  a  true 
and  steadfast  friend,  an  honest  Christian  gentleman.  From 
the  community  of  which  he  was  thus  the  ornament  and  pride, 
from  the  fraternity  who  were  bound  to  him  by  strong  and 
tender  ties,  from  the  domestic  circle  upon  whose  sacred  sor- 
rows no  stranger  may  intrude,  he  has  been  suddenly  taken 
away,  but  yet  fortunate  in  the  opportunity  of  his  death  as  of 
his  life.  Although  he  had  passed  the  allotted  years  of  man, 
no  lingering  disease  had  wasted  his  powers,  no  infirmities  of 
mind  or  body  indicated  the  ravages  of  age.  His  eye  was  not 
dim  nor  his  natural  force  abated.  His  countenance  still  wore 
the  freshness  of  youth,  his  step  was  elastic  and  firm,  his 
whole  bearing  manly  and  vigorous,  his  spirits  as  generous 
and  free,  and  his  heart  seemingly  as  young  as  in  the  prime 
of  life.  And  so,  leaving  this  bright  image  stamped  inefface- 
ably  upon  the  memories  of  all,  his  work  on  earth  fully 
done,  he  passed  from  among  us,  and  with  faith  in  God  and 
trust  in  a  Redeemer,  went  to  his  eternal  rest. 

May  it  please  your  Honor,  I  now  move,  in  behalf  of  the 
members  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  that  this  memorial  of 
their  departed  friend  and  brother  may  be  placed  upon  the 
records  of  the  Court. 

Wm.  C.  Endicott,  Esq.,  president  of  the  Essex  Bar,  then 
addressed  the  Court,  and  concluded  by  seconding,  on  behalf 
of  the  Bar,  the  motion  of  Mr.  Abbott.  Addresses  were  also 
made  by  the  District  Attorney  Edgar  J.  Sherman,  Esq.,  of 
Lawrence,  Hon.  J.  C.  Perkins,  of  Salem,  Hon.  Thomas  B. 
Newhall,  of  Lynn,  Henry  Carter,  Esq.,  of  Haverhill,  Hon. 
Wm.  D.  Northend,  of  Salem,  Hon.  Eben  F.  Stone,  of  New- 
buryport  and  Stephen  B.  Ives,  Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Salem. 

It  is  seldom,  on  occasions  like  this,  that  so  many  desire  to 
bear  public  testimony  to  the  worth  and  virtues  of  the  dead. 
The  tributes,  thus  paid,  were  full  of  feeling,  and  bore  wit- 
ness, not  only  to  the  respect  with  which  Mr.  Huntington 
was  regarded,  but  to  the  warm  affections  he  inspired. 

Judge  Putnam  then  addressed  the  Bar  as  follows : 


ASAHBL   HUNTINGTON.  35 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  of  Essex  : — The  death  of  one  who 
occupied  so  prominent  a  position  as  our  late  friend  and  brother 
in  this  community — one  so  much  beloved  and  esteemed  by 
us  all,  and  one  so  worthy  of  all  the  love  and  respect  which 
were  heaped  upon  him — is  an  event  which  may  well  call  for 
more  than  a  mere  passing  notice  ;  and  it  is  eminently  proper 
that  we  should  pause  for  a  moment  at  least,  in  the  midst  of 
our  professional  pursuits,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  a  fitting 
tribute  to  his  memory. 

I  have  listened,  with  feelings  of  the  deepest  sensibility  to 
the  words  of  affectionate  remembrance  and  eulogy  which  have 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  those  of  you  who  knew  him  and  appre- 
ciated him  so  well.  And  while  in  behalf  of  the  Superior 
Court,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  I  tender  to  you 
my  sincerest  sympathy  in  the  loss  which  you  have  sustained, 
I  feel  how  inadequate  will  be  any  suggestions  of  my  own  to 
add  to  the  impression  which  your  own  eloquent  and  touching 
words  have  left  in  the  hearts  of  all  whom  I  see  around  me. 
I  deem  it  a  privilege,  however,  to  be  permitted  to  add  very 
briefly  my  own  heartfelt  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceased. 

Of  Mr.  Huntington  as  a  lawyer,  it  does  not  become  me  to 
speak  in  this  presence.  You  who  were  his  associates  at  the  Bar 
have  just  told  us  of  the  professional  success  and  honor  which 
crowned  him,  and  it  is  enough  for  me  to  say  that  he  has  left 
behind  him,  as  a  lawyer,  a  reputation  which  any  of  us  might 
envy.  Nor  do  I  propose  to  add  one  word  to  what  has  been  so 
fitly  said  in  your  memorial,  of  the  almost  faultless  manner  in 
which  he  discharged  his  official  duties  as  District  Attorney 
and  Clerk  of  the  Courts.  I  propose  only  to  allude,  very  briefly 
to  some  traits  of  his  personal  character,  which  seem  to  me 
worthy  of  notice. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Huntington  began  when  I  first 
came  to  this  county  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  Court,  soon 
after  its  organization,  in  1860.  I  can  never  forget  the  strong 
impression  he  at  once  made  upon  me,  and  how  soon  I  came 
to  esteem  and  love  him.     I  was  often  with  him  during  the 


36  ASAHBL   HUNTINGTON. 

intermissions  of  the  Court.  His  conversation  at  those  times 
showed  me  how  much  he  retained  his  love  for  his  profession, 
and  his  interest  in  its  welfare.  He  always  closely  watched 
the  trial  of  cases  of  importance,  and  his  remarks  from  time 
to  time  as  to  the  management  of  them,  indicated  how  keenly 
he  still  relished  the  conflicts  of  the  Bar,  and  how  jealous  he 
still  was  for  the  professional  honor  and  success  of  his  former 
associates.  He  had  an  innate  sense  of  justice  which  never 
suffered  him  to  be  silent  when  he  saw  that  a  wrong  was  in- 
tended to  be  done.  He  denounced  with  a  special  aversion 
and  contempt,  all  meanness  and  hypocrisy  of  every  kind. 
He  saw,  at  once,  through  all  shams  and  pretences,  but  in  his 
criticisms  there  was  nothing  rancorous  or  malignant.  His  in- 
stincts were  all  kindly  and  genial.  In  simplicity  and  truth- 
fulness of  character  he  was  almost  childlike,  and  yet  in  firm- 
ness, courage  and  inflexibility  of  purpose,  he  was  almost  heroic. 
He  was  active  and  prominent  in  all  the  moral  and  benevolent 
enterprises  of  the  day.  He  was  a  Christian  without  any 
bigotry,  for  he  esteemed  personal  character  as  deeper  than 
any  creed. 

In  his  social  and  private  life  he  endeared  himself  to  every 
one.  His  personal  recollections  of  men  and  events  of  former 
days,  particularly  of  those  connected  with  this  immediate  vi- 
cinity, were  abundant  and  always  interesting.  As  a  friend, 
he  was  ever  true  and  faithful.  His  warm,  genial,  and  sympa- 
thizing heart  had  a  place  for  all  and  a  kindly  greeting  for  all. 
His  tastes  were  all  pure,  simple  and  healthful. 

He  was  always  cheerful  and  hopeful.  The  great  philo- 
sophic poet  of  England  seems  to  me  not  inaptly  to  have 
characterized  our  friend  in  these  words  : 

"  A  man  he  seemed  of  cheerful  yesterdays, 
And  confident  to-morrows ;  with  a  face 
Not  worldly  minded,  for  it  bore  too  much 
Of  Nature's  impress — gayety  and  health, 
Freedom  and  hope;  but  keen  withal  and  shrewd; 
His  gestures,  note, — and  hark!  his  tones  of  voice 
Are  all  vivacious  as  his  mien  and  looks." 

And  now,  while  the  glory  of  the  summer  is  waning,  and  all 


ASAHEL   HUNTINGTON.  37 

nature  is  rendering  up  to  us  her  rich  and  golden  harvests,  we 
have  returned  our  friend,  in  the  ripeness  and  maturity  of  his 
years,  to  the  bosom  of  his  mother  earth.  It  is  difficult  to 
realize  that  he  has  actually  passed  away  from  us.  We  shall 
miss  him  from  his  accustomed  seat.  We  shall  behold  no 
longer  before  us  that  benignant  countenance,  that  noble 
presence — itself  a  perpetual  benediction.  We  shall  continue 
to  press  on  in  our  hot  pursuit  of  the  shadows  of  life,  while  he 
has  already  grasped  the  realities.  But  we  shall  never  forget 
his  many  virtues,  for  we  have  enshrined  them  in  our  hearts 
and  affections. 

Your  memorial,  gentlemen,  seems  to  be  but  a  fitting  tribute 
to  the  character  of  our  deceased  friend,  and  I  shall  order  it 
to  be  entered  at  length  on  the  records  of  this  Court. 


JONATHAN  COGSWELL  PERKINS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  December 
19,  1877,  Messrs.  Northend,  Abbott,  Carter,  Wheatland, 
Stone  and  Ives  were  chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  me- 
morial of  Mr.  Jonathan  C.  Perkins,  to  be  presented  to  the 
Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  at  Salem,  December  28,  1877,  Chief 
Justice  Brigham  presiding,  Mr.  William  D.  Northend 
for  the  Essex  Bar  Association  presented  the  following 
memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — It  is  made  my  duty  to 
report  to  the  court  the  proceedings  of  the  Essex  Bar  Asso- 
ciation upon  the  decease  of  Jonathan  Cogswell  Perkins, 
LL.  D.,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  distinguished  members  of 
the  Essex  Bar,  who,  after  a  very  brief  illness,  departed  this 
life  on  Wednesday  morning,  the  12th  inst.,  at  his  residence 
on  Lynde  street,  in  this  city,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years. 

A  meeting  of  the  Association  was  held  on  Tuesday,  the 
19th  inst.,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  fitting 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  our  deceased  brother.  That  com- 
mittee reported,  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  the  following  me- 
morial, which  was  accepted  with  the  direction  that  it  should 
at  an  early  day  be  presented  to  the  court. 

Judge  Perkins  was  born  November  21,  1809,  in  what  is 
now  the  town  of  Essex,  then  a  part  of  the  town  of  Ipswich. 
He  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the  public 
schools  of  the  town,  and  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips 
Academy,  Andover.  He  entered  Amherst  College  in  1828 
and  was  graduated  in  1832.  He  taught  a  district  school  at 
the  Falls  Village  in  Essex,  in  the  winter  of  his  Sophomore 
year.  He  was  classmate,  and  for  nearly  the  whole  period  of 
his  college  life,  room-mate  of  Mr.  Justice  Lord  of  the  Su- 


JONATHAN  COGSWELL  PERKINS.  39 

preme  Judicial  Court.  Among  his  classmates  were  also  Hon. 
Henry  Morris,  LL.  D.,  Prof.  Samuel  M.  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  Hon. 
Lyman  Gibbons,  and  others  distinguished  in  the  different 
walks  of  life. 

In  college  he  was  the  most  laborious  in  his  studies  and 
punctual  in  the  performance  of  all  his  duties.  He  devoted 
from  thirteen  to  fifteen  hours  of  each  day  to  study  and  the 
recitation  room,  and  by  his  industry  well  earned  his  appoint- 
ment to  deliver  the  Salutatory  upon  his  graduation. 

After  completing  his  college  course  he  commenced  the  study 
of  the  law  with  his  fellow  townsman,  Hon.  Rufus  Choate, 
who  was  then  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Salem.  He 
remained  in  Mr.  Choate's  office  about  two  years,  and  finished 
his  course  of  study  at  the  Dane  Law  School.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  as  an  attorney  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  at  the  September  term  of  that  Court  in  Newburyport 
in  1835,  and  in  1836,  a  change  in  the  law  having  been  made, 
he  was  admitted  to  practice  as  attorney  and  counsellor  in  all 
the  courts  of  the  Commonwealth.  Immediately  upon  his 
admission  to  the  Bar,  he  commenced  his  professional  career 
in  Salem,  and  from  that  time  to  the  time  of  his  appointment 
as  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  1848,  he  led  a 
very  busy  life.  Beside  the  practice  of  his  profession  he  an- 
notated several  law  books,  the  first  of  which,  Chitty  on  Crim- 
inal Law,  was  published  in  1836,  one  year  after  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Bar.  He  also  took  an  interest  in  politics  and  in 
the  affairs  of  the  city.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Common 
Council  of  Salem  seven  years  during  this  period,  and  in  1845 
and  1846  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
in  1847  and  1848  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  Common- 
wealth. But  in  the  meantime  his  professional  business  had 
been  well  cared  for  and  increased,  so  that  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment  as  Judge  he  had  a  large  and  successful  practice 
in  the  courts.  He  made  careful  and  elaborate  preparation 
in  his  cases,  and  was  very  judicious  in  their  management. 
In  his  arguments  to  the  jury,  which  were  effective,  he  aimed 
at  plainness  and  directness,  with  but  little  attempt  at  oratory. 


40  JONATHAN   COGSWELL  PERKINS. 

He  was  a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  from  1848 
to  1859,  when  that  court  was  abolished  and  the  Superior 
Court  established  in  its  place.  He  brought  to  the  discharge 
of  the  difficult  and  oftentimes  perplexing  duties  of  this 
office,  ability,  a  large  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  the  same 
careful  industry  he  had  shown  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. 

Upon  leaving  the  Bench,  in  1859,  he  resumed  the  practice 
of  the  law,  which  he  continued  to  the  time  of  his  decease, 
although  for  the  last  few  years  he  declined,  except  in  a  few 
cases,  to  engage  in  trials  in  the  courts.  He  was  also  city  so- 
licitor of  the  city  of  Salem  for  several  years  after  he  left  the 
Bench.  But  his  principal  occupation,  and  the  one  upon 
which  his  fame  specially  rests,  was  the  editing  and  annotating 
of  the  works  of  the  Masters  of  the  Law.  For  forty  years 
he  has  been  known  not  only  to  the  Bar  of  this  State,  but  to 
the  Bar  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  through  the  valuable 
contributions  he  has  thus  made  to  the  standard  works  of  the 
profession.  Few  lawyers  in  the  United  States  have  performed 
so  much  or  such  valuable  labor  for  the  profession  as  Judge 
Perkins.  Among  the  works  he  edited  and  annotated  were 
"Pickering's  Reports,"  "  Vesey's  Reports,"  in  which  work  he 
was  associated  with  Hon.  Charles  Sumner;  one  volume  of 
the  "United  States  Digest,"  with  Judge  Metcalf;  "Abbott 
on  Shipping,"  "Angell  onWatercourses,"  "  Jarman  on  Wills," 
"  Chitty  on  Contracts,  on  Bills,  on  Criminal  Law,  and  on 
Pleading."  To  this  last  named  work  he  added,  in  the  last 
edition,  very  valuable  American  Forms  ;  "  Daniell's  Chan- 
cery Practice  with  American  Forms,"  "Sugden  on  Vendors," 
"  Arnold  on  Insurance,"  "Benjamin  on  Sales,"  and  "  Williams 
on  Executors  and  Administrators."  He  edited  and  annotated 
several  successive  editions  of  most  of  the  above  entitled 
works.  In  reference  to  one  of  these  works  Mr.  Sumner  said, 
"  The  notes  and  references  by  Mr.  Perkins  place  their  author 
among  American  annotators  by  the  side  of  Story  and  Met- 
calf." 

Judge  Perkins  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 


JONATHAN   COGSWELL  PERKINS.  41 

Amherst  College  by  the  Legislature  in  1850,  which  position 
he  held  to  the  time  of  his  decease,  and  in  1867  the  college 
conferred  upon  him  its  highest  honor,  the  degree  of  LL.  D. 
He  always  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  success  of  his  Alma 
Mater,  and  was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  Commencement 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  official  connection  with  the 
college. 

In  the  decease  of  Judge  Perkins  his  brethren  of  this  Bar 
have  met  with  a  great  and  irreparable  loss.  For  many  years 
his  office  has  been  open  to  his  associates  at  the  Bar,  who 
were  always  cordially  welcomed,  to  consult  the  volumes  of 
his  extensive  library  and  to  obtain  from  him  information  of 
the  law  and  precedents.  All  of  us  remember  with  gratitude 
his  uniform  kindness  and  the  cheerfulness  with  which  he  im- 
parted the  desired  information.  In  the  discussion  of  any 
question  of  law,  however  intricate,  he  could  at  once  put  his 
hand  upon  the  books  in  which  the  decisions  applicable  to  the 
subject  were  reported.  It  seemed  as  if  he  remembered  the 
names  of  all  the  cases  he  had  examined,  and  the  facility  with 
which  he  referred  to  them  was  indeed  wonderful.  The  mem- 
ory of  his  many  kindnesses,  of  his  pleasant  greetings,  of  his 
time  so  largely  and  so  freely  given,  his  associates  at  the  Bar, 
old  and  young,  will  always  delight  to  cherish  with  feelings 
of  the  deepest  gratitude  and  affection. 

May  it  please  your  Honor : — I  now  move,  in  behalf  of  the 
Essex  Bar  Association,  that  this  memorial  of  our  deceased 
brother  be  placed  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Northend's  address,  Stephen  B.  Ives, 
Jr.,  made  a  brief  and  appropriate  address,  in  which  he  averred 
that  he  had  long  regarded  these  ceremonies  as  the  most 
important  of  professional  duties.  They  are  calculated  not 
only  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  good  and  useful  men,  but 
to  soften  the  asperities  of  life,  and  to  forgetting  the  bad  and 
remembering  the  good  in  men's  lives.  The  speaker  had  every 
reason  to  cherish  the  memory  of  the  deceased.  He  had  known 
him  longer  than  any  member  of  the  Essex  Bar,  although  not 


42  JONATHAN  COGSWELL  PERKINS. 

professionally.  Mr.  Ives  also  spoke  of  his  personal  relations 
with  Judge  Perkins  in  professional  life.  He  closed  by  re- 
marking that  in  many  respects  the  place  of  the  deceased  will 
remain  vacant  so  long  as  any  present  members  of  the  Essex 
Bar  live.  It  was  with  the  most  cordial  feelings  of  assent 
that  he  seconded  the  motion  of  Mr.  Northend. 

Chas.  P.  Thompson,  Esq.,  endorsed  the  expressions  of 
the  address  prepared  by  Mr.  Northend,  and  in  suitable  lan- 
guage conveyed  to  the  Court  his  high  appreciation  of  the 
subject  of  the  memorial.  All  the  members  of  the  profession 
had  lost  more  than  a  personal  friend.  Few  in  the  profession 
die  who  leave  so  much  that  is  good  and  so  little  that  is  ill. 
If  all  left  the  good  behind,  he  said,  the  aggregate  would  be 
immense.  Mr.  Thompson  spoke  of  Judge  Perkins  not  as  a 
great  master  of  law,  but  as  a  safe  and  reliable  guide,  who  was 
always  able  to  show  what  point  had  been  reached,  what  had 
been  accomplished  in  any  investigation.  Such  a  man  must 
be  great. 

District  Attorney  Sherman  followed  Mr.  Thompson. 

Judge  Brigham,  in  acquiescing  in  the  request  of  the 
memorialist,  said  that  none  who  are  intellectually  the  equals 
of  lawyers  are  less  likely  to  be  remembered  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  this,  and  it  was  therefore  wise  for  the  Essex  Bar  As- 
sociation to  put  upon  record  expressions  of  the  worth  of  its 
deceased  members.  He  spoke  of  the  learning,  kindness  and 
celebrity  of  the  deceased,  the  latter  fact  being  attested  to  by 
the  frequent  inquiries  concerning  him  and  his  work  by  law- 
yers in  every  part  of  the  State.  The  clerk  was  ordered  to 
enter  the  memorial  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 


JAIRUS  WARE  PERRY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  September 
13,  1877,  Messrs.  Hazen,  Choate,  Saunders,  Abbott  and 
North  end,  were  chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of 
Mr.  Jairus  W.  Perry  for  presentation  to  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  held  at  Salem,  November  8, 
1877,  Chief  Justice  Gray  on  the  bench,  Mr.  George 
F.  Choate  for  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  presented  the 
following  memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor.  Jairus  Ware  Perry, 
LL.  D.,  one  of  our  most  valued  members,  departed  this  life  on 
Monday,  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  August  last,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-five  years  and  eight  months.  He  was  born  at  Raymond, 
in  the  State  of  Maine,  December  18th,  A.  D.  1821,  but  when 
quite  young  he  removed  to  the  town  of  Sweden.  His 
father  cultivated  a  small  farm,  but  his  scanty  means  and 
large  family  compelled  him  to  resort  to  other  occupations  for 
support.  At  one  time  he  operated  a  fulling-mill,  and  subse- 
quently engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  potash.  It  was  in 
these  employments  that  our  friend's  boyhood  and  youth  was 
chiefly  spent.  His  opportunities  for  education  were  limited: 
such  as  could  be  afforded  in  the  remote  region,  and  in  the 
time  hardly  spared  from  his  duties  in  contributing  toward 
the  common  support.  He  found  his  recreation  in  the  change 
from  the  hard  work  of  the  farm  to  the  heavier  work  of  the  fac- 
tory, rejoicing  in  the  latter  employment  because  of  the  much 
prized  intervals  of  time  it  afforded  for  pursuing  his  studies  ; 
and  there  he  thumbed  his  book  with  hands  seared  and 
bronzed  by  his  work,  and  learned  the  lesson  of  the  value  of 
time  which  he  never  forgot.  He  fitted  for  college  princi- 
pally by  private  study,  assisted  by  such  teachers  as  he  could 


44  JAIRUS    WARE   PERRY. 

find  in  the  vicinity,  at  times  walking  many  miles  daily 
through  the  severe  winter  season  to  secure  the  needed  in- 
struction. Entering  Bowdoin  College  a  year  in  advance,  he 
graduated  with  honor  in  1846.  He  pursued  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  N.  W.  Hazen  at  Audover,  in  this  state,  was 
admitted  to  practise  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at  the 
May  term,  1849,  and  soon  after  commenced  business  in  Salem. 
During  all  this  time  he  was  self-dependent;  indeed  from  his 
boyhood  he  may  be  said  to  have  earned  his  support  as  he 
went  along,  the  small  temporary  accommodations  he  received 
being  speedily  repaid.  His  studious  habits  and  untiring  dili- 
gence in  affairs  at  once  attracted  attention,  and  though  with- 
out social  or  business  connections  in  the  community,  he  was 
early  employed  as  junior  counsel  in  causes  by  the  favor  of  his 
seniors  at  the  bar,  and  in  a  short  time  secured  a  remunerative 
practice.  Subsequently  he  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Mr. 
Justice  Endicott,  then  a  young  man,  which  continued  until 
Mr.  Endicott's  appointment  to  a  seat  upon  the  bench  of  this 
Court.  For  years  the  firm  was  retained  in  the  most  im- 
portant causes,  in  the  preparation  and  management  of 
which  he  performed  his  full  share.  Notwithstanding  his 
busy  life  he  found  time  to  make  valuable  contributions  to 
the  literature  and  science  of  the  law.  Early  in  his  profes- 
sional life  he  projected  and  made  some  progress  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  work  on  probate  law,  which,  however,  was  aban- 
doned from  press  of  professional  business  and  other  causes. 
More  recently  by  his  annotations  to  the  treatise  of  Mr.  Jus- 
tice Story  on  promissory  notes  and  equity  jurisprudence,  he 
has  increased  the  value  of  the  original  works  of  a  master  of 
the  law,  and  in  his  own  original  treatise  on  trusts  (the  first 
American  book  on  that  subject)  he  has  shown  himself  the 
peer  of  the  ablest  writers  and  expositors  of  the  law  in  this 
or  other  countries.  So  recently  and  so  suddenly  has  he  been 
removed  from  our  midst,  that  there  is  perhaps  no  occasion 
for  us  to  enlarge  upon  his  character  or  recount  his  virtues, 
here  on  the  scene  of  his  labors  and  his  triumphs.  It  is,  how- 
ever, right  that  we  should  do  so.    The  fact  that  we  are  here, 


JAIRUS   WARE  PERRY.  45 

and  that  we  are  permitted  in  this  presence  to  present  our 
tribute  of  regard,  attests  our  appreciation  of  him,  and  the 
general  estimation  in  which  he  was  held.  His  character, 
ability  and  learning  were  known  and  respected  by  all,  but  to 
his  more  intimate  companions  he  showed  a  cordial,  kindly 
heart  and  a  sterling  honesty  of  character,  which  made  him  a 
loved  and  valued  friend.  Inclination,  prompted  perhaps,  by 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  his  own  capabilities,  led  him  to  de- 
vote himself  more  particularly  to  the  study  of  books  and  of 
the  principles  of  the  law,  though  he  was  not  without  his  for- 
ensic triumphs,  and  he  never  failed  to  acquit  himself  with 
credit  and  honor  in  whatever  cause,  or  whoever  might  be  his 
antagonist.  He  early  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  equity, 
thoroughly  mastered  its  principles,  and  became  an  acknowl- 
edged authority  with  the  younger  members  of  the  bar  in  this 
branch  of  practice.  Notwithstanding  his  devotion  to  his 
profession,  he  found  time  to  pursue  his  study  of  the  classics 
and  of  the  best  English  authors  ;  his  Cicero  and  Burke  were 
always  at  hand,  and  the  apt  quotation  from  either  was  sel- 
dom wanting,  where  the  topic  of  conversation  admitted.  In 
social  life  he  was  a  most  companionable  man,  kind  and  sym- 
pathizing, having  a  fund  of  anecdote,  a  mine  of  learning, 
common  and  uncommon,  at  command.  Holding  decided 
opinions  upon  political  questions  which  he  was  always  ready 
to  make  known  and  defend,  when  occasion  called,  he  never 
offensively  obtruded  them,  nor  sought  political  place  or 
power ;  he  recognized  that  the  law  is  an  exacting  mistress, 
and  he  was  not  to  be  allured  from  his  chosen  path.  He  was 
laborious  and  painstaking  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  regard- 
less of  himself  so  long  as  there  was  opportunity  for  effort 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  object  at  which  he  aimed. 
This  trait  showed  itself  in  a  marked  degree  when,  a  few 
years  since,  he  detected  the  approach  of  the  malady  which 
finally  ended  his  life.  While  waging  unequal  war  with  his 
disease  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  relax  his  labors,  but 
continued  to  work  on  with  increased  assiduity,  until  at  last, 
clearly  warned  that  he  must  relieve  his  overtaxed  brain,  he 


46  JAIRUS   WARE  PERRY. 

planned  a  voyage  in  pursuit  of  that  rest  abroad,  which  his 
temperament  would  not  permit  at  home,  but  would  take  his 
departure  only  after  the  last  proof-sheet  had  passed  his  final 
revision,  and,  as  it  proved,  the  last  finishing  touch  had  been 
given  to  the  closing  professional  work  of  his  life.  This 
formal  recital  of  his  early  struggles  and  professional  achieve- 
ments seems  insufficient  as  a  tribute  to  our  departed  friend, 
without  a  recurrence  to  his  virtues  as  a  man.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  surroundings  of  his  youth  to  prompt  him  to 
the  efforts  he  made,  unaided,  save  by  the  encouraging  sympa- 
thy of  a  dearly  loved  mother.  In  spite  of  adversities  he  won 
for  himself  an  education  and  rose  to  position  and  fame.  The 
trials  of  his  early  days  brought  no  bitterness  to  his  after 
years;  with  prosperity  came  no  disposition  to  forget  the 
favors  or  friendships  of  other  times  ;  his  memories  were  of 
kindness,  and  the  recollection  of  favors  received  was  ever 
present  with  him.  Especially  did  his  heart  go  out  towards 
his  early  friends  who  were  advanced  in  life,  to  his  instructors 
and  the  counsellors  of  his  youth ;  for  them  he  sought  in  va- 
rious ways  to  cheer  and  smooth  the  path  of  declining  years. 
The  memory  of  his  own  experiences  aroused  his  sympathy 
for  others  in  like  circumstances,  and  as  he  came  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  own  labors,  and  his  means  increased,  he  found 
substantial  ways  of  attesting  it.  In  his  private  life  he  was 
exemplary ;  he  was  exact  in  business  relations  ;  a  good  citi- 
zen, a  hospitable  neighbor,  a  self-sacrificing  parent,  prizing 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  those  of  his  own  household 
above  all  considerations  of  his  own  convenience  or  comfort, 
and  deeming  no  effort  too  great  to  be  expended  in  their  be- 
half. Contented  at  home,  he  keenly  enjoyed  the  society  of 
his  friends  there  and  elsewhere.  In  his  social  relations  he 
was  peculiarly  happy;  ever  solicitous  for  enjoyment  of  his 
associates,  considerate,  courteous  and  careful  of  offence,  his 
loss  is  most  deeply  deplored  by  those  who  knew  him  best. 
Early  in  the  present  year  he  went  abroad  in  the  hope  that 
change  of  scene  and  rest  from  labor  would  restore  the  health 
and  vigor  which  were  not  again  to   be  his.     He   returned 


JAIRUS   WARE   PERRY.  47 

stricken  and  prostrate  in  body,  but  still  enjoying  the  society 
of  kindred  and  friends.  For  a  few  weeks  with  cheerful  res- 
ignation he  awaited  the  end,  and  with  a  ^benediction  for  his 
college,  a  kind  farewell  for  his  friends  and  professional  breth- 
ren, and  a  prayer  for  his  children,  he  passed  to  his  rest, 
leaving  us  to  mourn  his  too  early  removal  from  his  labors  and 
usefulness. 

On  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  I  respectfully  re- 
quest that  this  memorial  be  entered  on  the  records  of  this 
Court. 

Mr.  Stephen  B.  Ives  followed  with  remarks  and  seconded 
the  request  that  the  memorial  be  entered  on  the  records  of 
the  Court.     Mr.  Eben  F.  Stone  also  addressed  the  Court. 

These  were  responded  to  by  Chief  Justice  Gray,  who 
ordered  that  the  foregoing  memorial  be  entered  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Court. 


CALEB  CUSHING. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  January 
7,  1879,  Messrs.  Hazen,  Stone,  Newhall,  Northend,  Thomp- 
son and  Ives,  were  chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial 
of  Honorable  Caleb  Cushing  to  be  presented  to  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  at  Salem,  April  15,  1879, 
Mr.  Justice  Morton  on  the  bench,  Mr.  Nathan  W. 
Hazen,  for  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  presented  the  fol- 
lowing memorial  : 

"  To  the  many  eminent  names  before  borne  on  the  roll  of 
deceased  members  of  the  Bar  of  Essex  County,  the  name  of 
Caleb  Cushing  has  been  added. 

It  belongs  to  us  in  commemorating  him  to  trace  his  career, 
and  to  depict  his  character,  as  a  lawyer,  to  such  extent  as  a 
brevity  proper  to  the  occasion  will  permit.  He  was  a  de- 
scendant in  the  seventh  generation  from  Matthew  Cushing, 
who  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1635,  from  Hingham  in  the 
county  of  Norfolk,  England ;  and  in  the  fifth,  from  Rev. 
Caleb  Cushing  of  Salisbury,  who  gave  proof  of  his  truly 
Christian  character  by  being  one  of  thirty-nine  ministers, 
who  signed  a  letter -to  Gov.  Dudley  in  1707,  approving  the 
election  of  Leverett,  a  layman,  to  be  President  of  Harvard 
College. 

The  subject  of  this  memorial  was  born  at  Salisbury,  in  this 
county,  January  7, 1800.  He  was  educated  for  college  at  New- 
buryport,  to  which  place  his  father  had  removed,  mainly,  it 
is  said,  at  the  private  school  of  Michael  Walsh,  author  of  a 
once  famous  Arithmetic.  Entering  college  with  an  imper- 
fect preparation,  he  made  such  progress  in  his  studies,  that 
he  was  awarded  the  salutatory  oration,  and  graduated  before 
he  was  seventeen  years  old.     It  is  remembered  of  him,  that 


CALEB   CUSHING.  49 

in  college  he  was  reserved  in  his  intercourse  ;  that  he  sought 
no  aid  from  others,  and  nothing  was  known  of  the  thorough- 
ness of  his  studies  until  its  fruit  was  developed.  After  being 
tutor  in  the  college  one  year,  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
Hon.  Ebenezer  Mosely  at  Newburyport,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  Common  Pleas  Bar,  December  Term,  1821,  and  to 
practice  at  this  Bar  in  1826,  at  Suffolk.  His  studies  at  this 
time  were  various,  and  he  acquired  a  wide  fame  for  general 
knowledge.  In  his  profession  he  seems  to  have  been  content 
to  hold  an  equal  rank  with  the  very  respectable  gentlemen 
who  then  composed  the  Bar  of  Newburyport.  His  first  re- 
ported case  is  at  November  Term,  1826.  Rufus  Choate  was 
admitted  September  Term,  1823.  It  might  be  expected  that 
cotemporary,  so  long  as  they  were,  in  the  same  county,  that 
they  would  often  be  retained  as  opposing  counsel  in  the  same 
suit.  There  is  a  single  case  reported  in  which  this  occurred. 
No  doubt  there  were  other  encounters  between  them.  In 
1832  there  was  filed  a  bill  in  equity  praying  for  an  injunc- 
tion, Choate  for  plaintiffs,  Cushing  for  defendants.  On  the 
hearing  before  Shaw,  Ch.  J.,  he  remarked,  in  granting  the 
prayer  of  the  bill,  that  so  far  as  he  knew,  it  was  the  first  in- 
junction issued  in  the  Commonwealth. 

In  an  indictment  against  the  proprietors  of  Newburyport 
Bridge,  on  the  trial  before  a  jury,  Mr.  Cushing  for  the  de- 
fense, the  Commonwealth  obtained  a  verdict.  Mr.  Choate 
was  then  retained,  and  it  was  discovered  that  the  indictment 
did  not  expressly  allege  that  a  bridge  had  ever  been  built. 
The  proceeding  was  therefore  quashed. 

In  1827,  Mr.  Cushing  met  Mr.  Webster,  then  in  the  matur- 
ity of  his  power  and  fame.  The  arguments  are  reported 
at  unusual  length.  As  reported,  they  do  not  seem  to  have 
aided  the  Court,  whose  decision  is  put  on  grounds  not  argued 
by  either  of  the  counsel. 

Mr.  Cushing  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1835.  He  soon 
became  a  distinguished  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  was  placed  upon  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions.    In  this  capacity  he  made  some  highly  valuable  re- 


50  CALEB   CUSHING. 

ports,  evert  then  developing  unsettled  questions  between  this 
country  and  Great  Britain.  During  his  service  in  Congress 
he  seems  nearly  to  have  ceased  his  practice  at  the  bar. 

In  1843,  he  accepted  the  Mission  to  China.  His  instruc- 
tions were  prepared  by  Mr.  Webster,  whose  son  accompanied 
him,  as  Secretary  of  Legation.  He  was  eminently  successful 
in  negotiating  a  Treaty,  which,  while  it  remained  the  rule 
between  the  nations,  served  every  purpose  of  peace  and  com- 
merce. 

To  this  succeeded  his  military  service  in  Mexico,  which 
closed  in  1848.  He  then  opened  an  office  in  Boston  and  re- 
sided at  Newburyport.  For  the  succeeding  years  there  is  no 
marked  trace  of  him  in  his  profession.  From  what  has  since 
appeared,  these  years  were  probably  spent  by  him  in  the  study 
of  the  law  by  the  same  habits  which  he  had  observed  when 
in  college.  A  statute  was  passed  April  20,  1852,  giving  an 
additional  Judge  to  this  Court.  Mr.  Cushing  received  the 
appointment,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  at  Suffolk  in 
July  following.  A  nisi  prius  term  of  this  Court  was  then  by 
law  held  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  September  in  Berkshire, 
one  week  before  the  law  term  in  the  same  county.  This  was 
the  first  term  held  for  jury  trials  after  his  appointment ;  it 
was  assigned  to  him.  While  his  reputation  for  general  abil- 
ity was  familiar  to  them,  yet  the  long  period  which  had  in- 
tervened since  the  limited  practice  of  the  law  which  he  ever 
attained,  had  wholly  ceased,  without  notice  of  any  later 
study,  or  of  even  an  appearance  in  the  profession  known  to 
them,  made  his  advent  into  their  county  to  preside  at  their 
term  of  its  highest  Court,  and  was  looked  to  with  an  uncom- 
mon interest  by  the  learned  Bar  of  Berkshire.  There  was  a 
single  jury  trial ;  it  was  in  a  real  action,  and  involved  some 
questions  upon  subjects  not  of  frequent  occurrence;  Judge 
Cushing  reported  the  case.  Abandoning  the  usual  imperson- 
ality, he  reports,  "  I  was  of  opinion;"  "I  admitted  the  evi- 
dence ;  "  "I  instructed  the  jury."  The  rulings  and  instruc- 
tions were  embraced  in  five  points  to  which  exceptions  were 
taken.     Mr.  Justice  Dewey,  giving  the  opinion  in  the  case, 


CALEB   CUSHING.  51 

closed  it  with  these  words :  "  The  result  is  all  the  exceptions 
are  overruled."  Upon  the  trial  of  the  cause  before  the  jury, 
he  seized  at  once  the  point  raised,  and  was  clear  and  prompt 
in  his  rulings.  Through  the  term  he  was  patient  and  courte- 
ous, and  exceedingly  gracious  to  counsel.  During  the  week 
he  found  leisure  to  be  present  at  a  trial  before  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  After  it  was  concluded  he  gave  the  magistrate 
some  advice  as  to  some  points  of  policy  to  be  observed,  and 
of  the  duties  of  his  office  generally,  which  was  much  valued 
by  the  recipient.  While  the  opinions  of  this  Court  have  an 
equal  value,  each  partakes  the  idiosyncrasies  of  its  author. 
Those  of  Judge  Cushing  exhibit  the  great  extent  of  his  read- 
ing, the  thoroughness  of  his  studies,  and  the  keenness  and 
vigor  of  his  intellect.  His  criticisms  of  reported  cases  are 
often  highly  instructive.  In  the  second  case  in  which  the 
opinion  was  given  by  him,  he  corrects  a  misconception  of  the 
law  in  reference  to  trustees  summoned,  which,  from  the  cases 
cited,  seems  to  have  become  general.  In  the  same  term,  he 
criticises  an  English  case,  which  he  calls  the  anomalous  case 
of  Austin  v.  Drew,  and  comments  upon  it  as  given  by  four 
different  reporters,  each  report  differing  from  all  the  others. 
His  opinion  in  the  case  is  remarkable  for  the  mastery  which 
he  exhibits  over  the  whole  series  of  reports,  and  for  the  clear 
rule  of  law  which  his  ratiocination  deduces  from  the  whole. 
His  opinion  in  the  affirmative,  that  larceny  may  be  committed 
of  property  of  one  who  has  unlawfully  acquired  it,  is  so 
drawn  as  to  reconcile  in  the  case,  law,  morals  and  public  pol- 
icy. It  would  not  be  safe  to  assert  that  all  his  opinions  may 
be  held  up  as  models  ;  it  may,  however,  be  suggested  that 
each  will  tend  to  persuade  the  reader  of  its  just  right  to  au- 
thority. 

It  was  after  this  period  of  his  life  that  Mr.  Cushing  ad- 
dressed an  audience  of  3000  persons,  when  every  syllable  of 
his  speech  reached  every  one  in  the  vast  hall  capable  of  con- 
taining such  numbers.  For  ten  consecutive  days,  the  Sab- 
bath only  intervening,  he  presided  over  a  meeting  of  more 
than  250  members,  holding  for  the  most  part  two  daily  ses- 


52  CALEB   CUSHING. 

sions ;  the  assembly  all  the  time  engaged  in  excited  debates, 
and  in  the  end  unable  to  come  to  any  agreement.  The  ca- 
pacity for  labor  and  of  endurance  shown  by  him  on  this  oc- 
casion display  the  resources,  mental  and  physical,  which  sus- 
tained him  in  the  intense  and  protracted  efforts  to  which  he 
was  subjected  in  the  course  of  his  later  professional  life. 

He  was  perfectly  formed,  of  medium  size  ;  his  features  reg- 
ular and  handsome  ;  his  face  was  highly  expressive  ;  in  early 
youth  it  betrayed  all  his  emotions.  On  one  of  his  first  en- 
trances into  the  Court  house  at  Salem  he  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Mr.  Oliver,  the  learned  author  of  "  Forms  and  Declar- 
ations", and  of  "The  Conveyancer",  who  inquired  with 
much  earnestness  who  he  was.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  he  is  the 
most  ambitious  person  I  ever  saw,  since  he  has  got  here,  his 
face  has  flushed  and  paled  half  a  dozen  times."  The  life  of 
the  subject  of  the  augury  has  verified  its  truth. 

Iu  March,  1853,  Mr.  Gushing  accepted  the  office  of  attorney 
general  in  the  administration  of  President  Pierce.  The 
printed  opinions  of  these  officers,  to  the  present  time,  fill 
thirteen  volumes,  of  which  those  of  Mr.  Cushing  are  comprised 
in  three  volumes.  These  give  vivid  and  clear  views  of 
American  liberty  and  modes  of  government ;  they  show  how 
smoothly  and  how  safely  to  the  citizen  they  operate  when 
guided  by  the  law  and  controlled  by  the  constitution.  No 
where  better  than  here  can  the  citizen  relumine  the  light  and 
heat  of  patriotism,  or  the  student  better  learn  to  appreciate 
the  value  of  the  political  institutions  which  protect  him,  and 
which  he  in  return  is  bound  to  support  and  cherish.  They 
measure  too  the  crime  of  whomever  would  substitute  for 
them  violence  and  arms,  or  who  would  pursue  a  course 
of  conduct  calculated  to  stimulate  others  to  such  resorts. 
Nobly  on  several  occasions  did  the  attorney  general  defend 
and  vindicate  the  honor  and  interests  of  his  country.  The 
necessities  of  Great  Britain  for  the  supply  of  soldiers  to  its 
armies  in  the  war  then  pending  with  Russia,  led  to  attempts 
to  enlist  men  in  this  country.  The  British  Ambassador  then 
here,  and  some  of  the  consuls  of  that  nation  shared  in   these 


CALEB   CUSHING.  53 

attempts.  These  violations  of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  a 
nation  were  reproved  by  Mr.  Cushing  in  a  manner  likely  to 
prevent  their  repetition  in  all  future  time. 

Application  was  made  to  the  government  for  indemnity 
for  the  alleged  use  of  Jackson  and  Morton's  patent  for 
anaesthesia  in  surgical  operations,  which  was  referred  to  the 
attorney  general.  After  a  full  hearing  he  decided  against 
the  claim  on  the  ground  of  the  invalidity  of  the  patent.  Af- 
ter discussing  various  points  of  law,  he  closes  his  opinion  in 
this  scientific  manner.  "  I  think  that  in  the  matter  out  of 
which  came  this  patent  a  signal  service  was  performed,  hon- 
orable to  the  parties  and  to  their  country.  It  was  not  the 
discovery  of  the  anodyne  effect  of  the  inhalation  of  ether  or 
other  anaesthetic  agents.  It  was  not  the  invention  of  the 
performance  of  surgical  operations  on  the  human  body  which 
is  reduced  to  temporary  insensibility  by  anaesthesia.  These 
were  ideas  familiar  for  ages  to  men  of  science,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  which  no  more  belongs  to  any  individual  as  prop- 
erty, than  electricity,  the  fusibility  of  metals,  the  specific  ef- 
fects of  opium,  cinchona,  mercury,  the  capacity  of  sleep,  which 
Cervantes  speaks  of,  as  a  valuable  invention,  or  any  other 
of  the  ascertained  qualities  of  matter,  functions  of  animal  life, 
or  laws  of  inanimate  matter.  Neither  of  these  things  consti- 
tutes the  honorable  service  performed  in  the  present  instance. 
That  service  consisted  in  the  suggestion  and  execution  of  a 
series  of  experiments,  which  resulted  in  demonstrating  the 
safety  and  utility  of  employing  more  frequently  than  had 
been  done  heretofore,  the  known  agents  of  anaesthesia,  by 
known  methods  in  order  to  the  known  end  of  facilitating 
surgical  operations.  That  was  a  great  good  and  worthy  due 
honor.  There  could  be  no  question  of  patent  in  the  succes- 
sive steps  of  discovery  and  demonstration,  which,  beginning 
with  Copernicus,  continued  by  Kepler  and  Gallileo  and  con- 
summated by  Newton,  unfolded  the  mysteries  of  the  law  of 
gravitation,  and  the  composition  of  the  solar  and  planetary 
systems  of  the  universe.  So  there  can  be  no  patent  for  the 
expansibility  of  heated  aqueous  vapor,  nor  for  its  application 


54  CALEB   CUSHING. 

to  use,  as  a  mechanical  force  ;  but  there  may  be  for  specific 
instruments  or  methods  of  such  application.  In  like  manner 
electro  magnetism  cannot  be  patented,  nor  even  its  use  as  a 
means  of  communication,  but  particular  means  of  its  employ- 
ment may  be  patented." 

Since  this  opinion  was  given  the  public  have  not  heard  of 
claims  made  under  this  patent.  Mr.  Choate  was  retained 
and  went  once  at  least  to  Washington  in  reference  to  it.  If 
it  was  the  part  of  Mr.  Choate  to  inform  Mr.  Cushing,  that 
so  far  as  the  indictment  went,  on  which  his  clients  had  been 
found  guilty  in  building  a  bridge,  the  bridge  itself  might  be 
a  myth,  it  was  now  the  part  of  Mr.  Cushing  to  apprise  Mr. 
Choate  that  the  letters  patent  of  his  clients  were  a  figment. 
These  distinguished  brethren  held  each  other  in  high  esteem. 
They  became,  with  Robert  Rantoul  Jr.,  joint  purchasers  of  a 
large  tract  of  Western  lands ;  the  whole  speculation  was 
finally  assumed  by  Mr.  Cushing.  It  subjected  him  to  the 
vicissitudes  of  a  frontier  litigation  with  an  antagonist  who 
proved  to  have  equal  determination.  A  long  and  undecided 
contest  between  them  was  closed  by  a  voluntary  partition  of 
the  estate.  The  steadiness  and  intelligence  with  which  the 
attorney  general  held  to  the  rule  of  law,  his  love  and  rev- 
erence for  the  constitution,  his  complete  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  his  country,  must  have  been  highly  promotive  of 
the  success  of  any  administration.  That  of  President  Pierce 
has  accordingly  been  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful. Perhaps  the  affluence  of  learning,  the  skill  of  interpre- 
tation and  the  power  of  analysis,  displayed  in  the  three 
volumes  of  opinions  by  Mr.  Cushing,  are  not  excelled  in  these 
characteristics  by  the  work  of  any  lawyer  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. The  reader  of  these  opinions  will  observe  and  admire 
with  what  care  their  author  has  derived  our  political  institu- 
tions, liberty^and  rules  of  judicial  decision  from  the  common 
law,  and  has  drawn  their  origin  from  its  fountains,  from  the 
Year  Books,  from  Coke,  Plowden,  Viner,  and  all  the  ancient 
sages  of  this  jurisprudence,  and  has  traced  the  recognition  of 
its  precepts  and  privileges  through  the  whole  series  of  modern 


CALEB   CUSHING.  55 

reports,  and  even  in  the  latest  text  writers.  These  researches 
were  his  own  work  seldom  aided  by  counsel  on  either  side  of 
the  question  presented.  In  this  office,  as  well  as  in  Congress, 
the  grounds  of  controversy  existing  between  this  country 
and  Great  Britain  excited  his  attention,  and  he  considered 
them  as  they  occurred  to  him. 

After  his  retirement  from  office  he  was  retained  in  many 
highly  important  suits.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  was 
that  of  the  Gaines  claim  to  land  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 
The  case  in  which  he  was  engaged  for  the  plaintiff  and 
claimant,  was  the  sixth  suit  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  Each  of  the  five  former  actions  had  been  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  defendant,  who,  however,  was  not  the 
same  person  in  all  the  suits.  The  record  of  the  case  in  ques- 
tion consisted  of  one  thousand  printed  pages.  Among  the 
subjects  of  investigation,  one  was  into  the  criminal  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  Judge  Wayne  inclosing  his 
opinion  for  the  claimant,  said :  "  When  hereafter  some  dis- 
tinguished American  lawyer  shall  retire  from  practice  to 
write  the  history  of  his  country's  jurisprudence,  this  case  will 
be  registered  by  him  as  the  most  remarkable  in  the  annals 
of  its  Courts." 

The  Trent  affair  was  an  early  incident  of  the  late  civil  war. 
The  capture  of  the  Confederate  citizens  was  the  subject  of 
general  gratulation.  Mr.  Cushing  decided  at  once  that  they 
could  not  be  held,  but  must  be  surrendered  upon  the  British 
demand.  His  judgment  prevailed,  and  was  carried  into  ef- 
fect by  a  dispatch,  to  the  writing  of  which  he  contributed, 
but  its  entire  authorship  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  him.  He 
saw  in  this  event  a  sufficient  cause  for  waking  into  life  all 
the  elements  of  discord  subsisting  between  the  two  nations, 
and  our  entrance  into  war  with  the  wrong  on  our  side. 
Through  the  civil  war  Mr.  Cushing  was  constantly  consulted 
by  Mr.  Seward.  So  frequent  were  the  calls  for  this  purpose, 
that  Mr.  Cushing  was  induced  to  remove  to  Washington. 
About  this  period,  he  was  on  a  learned  commission  to  revise 
the  Acts  of  Congress.     Those,  who  have  had  occasion  to  ex- 


56  .  CALEB   CUSHING. 

plore  the  vast  and  intricate  mazes  of  the  United  States  stat- 
utes at  large,  will  best  comprehend  the  labor  and  care  neces- 
sary to  the  performance  of  this  duty,  as  it  would  be  performed 
by  him.     When  the  war  had  ceased  the  American  govern- 
ment claimed  from  that  of  Great  Britain  reparation  for  dam- 
ages inflicted  by  it  upon  this  country  during  the  conflict,  and 
by  reason  of  its  existence.     Mr.  Cushing  has  stated   more 
forcibly,  than  has  been  done  by  any  other  person,  the  charges 
to  which  the  British  government  had  thus  subjected  itself. 
The  negotiation  of  the  Clarendea  Johnson  Treaty  followed, 
which  was  rejected  by  the  Senate.     The  alternatives  were 
then  war  or  fresh  negotiation.     The  studies  of  Mr.  Cushing 
had  qualified  him  for  an  active  agency  at  this  crisis.     He  had 
an  enumeration  of  the  affairs  and  interests  unsettled  between 
the  governments.     He  found  there  were  five  different  subjects 
involving  forty-three  articles  to  be  provided  for  in  any  Treaty 
which  should  be  a  perfect  settlement  between  them.     To  ne- 
gotiate such  a  Treaty  successfully  must  be  the  work  of  great 
knowledge  and  sagacity,  of  vast  labor,  and  of  much  delicacy. 
When  it  had  been  agreed  to  negotiate,  five  commissioners 
were  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  three  of 
whom  spoke  only  when  officially  called  upon,  leaving  the 
negotiation  where  it  belonged  in  the  hands  of  the  government, 
which  for  this  purpose  consisted  of  Mr.  Fish  here  and  Mr. 
Schenck  in  London.     It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Secretary 
or  the  Ambassador  had  more  than  a  general  knowledge  of  the 
subjects   of   negotiation.      Mr.   Cushing  had  analyzed  and 
classified  them.     They  were  fully  in  his  mind,  and  could  be 
dealt  with  by  the  ability  he  was  so  well  known  to  possess. 
Whatever  in  the  intercourse  between  the  governments  could 
be  as  well  done  by  Mr.  Cushing,  as  it  could  by  the  Secretary 
or  Ambassador,  though-  done  in  the  name  of  one  of  them, 
was  really  done  by  him.     The  result  of  the  negotiation  was 
the  Treaty  of  Washington,  which  does  provide  for  a  perfect 
settlement  between  the  two  nations,  embracing  specifically 
the  five  subjects,  and  forty-three  articles  enumerated  by  Mr. 
Cushing.     It  referred  the  Alabama  claims  to  an  arbitration 


CALEB   CUSHING.  57 

before  which  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  were  to 
appear,  as  parties  to  a  suit  at  law.  Mr.  Cushing  was  counsel 
and  agent  for  the  United  States.  The  American  case,  as 
filed  with  the  arbitrators,  consists  of  eight  octavo  volumes 
comprising  five  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-four  pages. 
The  Britain  case  is  contained  in  three  volumes,  and  covers 
two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three  pages.  The 
British  counter  case  is  in  four  volumes  folio  ;  this  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  plea  and  answer ;  the  American  is  in  three  vol- 
umes, folio. 

The  United  States  claimed  for  consequential  damages  ;  for 
damage  to  the  nation  in  its  sovereign  capacity,  as  well  as  for 
damage  to  the  individual  citizen.  Much  heated  discussion 
through  the  press  followed  upon  the  disclosure  of  the  Ameri- 
can case  stating  this  claim.  While  the  discussion  went  on, 
Mr.  Cushing  made  his  headquarters  at  Paris,  as  the  great  cen- 
ter of  international  communication,  and  was  busily  engaged  in 
preparing  the  American  counter  case,  and  in  watching  the 
current  of  discussion  and  the  state  of  public  opinion.  When 
therefore  the  arbitration  assembled  at  Geneva  he  was  well  in- 
formed of  all  the  influences  to  which  any  had  been  subjected 
who  were  concerned  in  it.  The  arbitrators  took  cognizance 
of  the  claim  for  consequential  damages,  the  injury  done  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  nation.  It  was  hence  that  the  sum 
awarded  so  much  more  than  covered  the  claims  for  individual 
losses.  The  award  was  a  triumph  for  our  country.  The 
honor  of  its  achievement  belongs  to  Mr.  Cushing.  To  him 
also  belongs  the  higher  glory  of  being  author  of  the  Treaty  of 
Washington. 

Thus  at  Geneva  on  the  same  plains  of  Europe  where  Wa- 
terloo and  so  many  other  bloody  battles  have  been  fought  in 
every  age  in  the  settlement  of  national  quarrels,  our  country 
without  shedding  one  drop  of  blood  or  adding  one  pang  to  the 
sum  of  human  misery,  vindicated  herself,  gained  justice  and 
a  victory  full  of  glory  over  the  most  powerful  of  nations.  In 
all  this  Mr.  Cushing  was  as  much  the  leader,  as  he  would 
have  been  if  the  commander  of  a  conquering  army.     Equal 


58  CALEB   CUSHING. 

honor  at  least  is  due  to  his  memory,  as  if  he  had  won  the 
triumph  by  force  of  arms.  These  services  were  rendered  by 
him  to  his  country,  as  a  lawyer.  It  was  his  learning,  and  skill 
as  a  lawyer,  which  enabled  him  to  render  them.  After  ren- 
dering these  benefits  to  the  nation,  he  was  nominated  to  be 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  The  nomination  was 
withdrawn.  Enquiry  into  even  the  alleged  causes  and  pre- 
texts will  not  change  the  obvious  character  of  the  transaction. 

Through  life  Mr.  Cushing  was  self  reliant.  He  had  the  in- 
dustry of  Cicero,  but  he  had  no  Atticus.  Like  Cicero,  he  was 
never  a  thorough  partisan.  He  declared  his  purpose  to 
maintain  his  individuality.  He  would  never  suffer  himself 
to  be  absorbed  in  partjr.  Hence  he  never  secured  to  himself 
perfect  political  allegiance.  The  offices  he  held  were  given 
to  his  merits,  and  for  the  sake  of  his  service  in  them.  It 
happened  to  him,  as  we  have  seen  in  this  brief  recital,  to  en- 
ter office  under  circumstances  calculated  to  provoke  criticism 
on  any  failure  or  deficiency  on  his  part.  When  he  laid  down 
office  his  discharge  of  duty  in  it  had  been  such  as  to  leave 
room  only  for  praise  and  admiration. 

His  attainments  in  learning  were  such  as  a  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge, a  love  of  labor,  an  unrivalled  facility  of  acquisition  and 
a  most  retentive  memory  supplied.  His  use  of  them  was 
regulated  by  a  severe  and  well  disciplined  taste,  by  habits  of 
order  and  method,  by  a  perfect  control  over  his  attention,  by 
a  keen  perception,  by  extraordinary  powers  of  analysis,  and 
of  concentration,  and  by  a  high  respect  for  truth.  He  feared 
no  task,  he  shrunk  from  no  toil,  no  undertaking  within  the 
compass  of  human  labor  was  too  vast,  or  too  tedious  for  the 
encounter  of  his  courage.  The  work  he  performed  has  not 
yet  been  measured  ;  much  of  it  is  yet  locked  in  the  archives 
of  state,  or  lost  for  the  time  in  the  legion  of  documents.  His 
name  and  memory,  though  for  very  different  reasons,  like 
those  of  the  great  English  lawyer,  must  be  "  bequeathed  to 
his  countrymen  after  some  time  be  passed  over."  When  pos- 
terity reckons  the  names  of  the  heroes  whose  deeds  and  lives 
have  honored  and  adorned  humanity,  it  will  count  among 


CALEB   CUSHING.  59 

them  the  name  of  Caleb  Cushing.  We  seek  to  perform  what 
belongs  to  us  to  do  ;  to  claim  for  our  profession  the  honor  his 
name  confers  upon  it ;  to  illustrate  his  example  ;  and  to  bear 
our  testimony,  as  witnesses,  to  his  character  and  career." 

Mr.  Eben  F.  Stone  moved  that  the  memorial  be  placed  up- 
on the  records  of  the  court,  and  made  a  brief  eulogy.  The 
motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  William  D.  Northend,  who 
said,  a  great  man,  a  great  lawyer,  a  great  statesman,  had 
passed  away.  It  was  right  and  fitting  that  the  bar  should 
recognize  his  merits. 

Judge  Morton  in  response  said  : — 

This  is  not  the  place  nor  the  occasion  to  attempt  to  deline- 
ate the  intellectual  and  personal  character  of  a  citizen  who 
has  filled  so  large  a  place  in  the  public  eye  as  the  late  Caleb 
Cushing. 

But  we  may  briefly  allude  to  the  qualities  which  were  the 
foundation  of  his  fame,  and  in  which  he  is  most  worthy  of 
remembrance  and  emulation. 

For  sixty  years  of  a  most  active  life  he  maintained  the  high 
reputation  with  which  he  left  college.  In  talents  versatile, 
in  reading  omnivorous,  in  study  and  mental  labor  indefati- 
gable ;  of  him  it  could  be  said  with  more  truth  than  of  almost 
any  man  of  his  time,  labor  ipse  voluptas.  No  stage  of  his 
long  and  varied  career  affords  a  better  or  more  characteristic 
portrait  of  him  than  his  brief  term  of  service  upon  this  bench. 

For  some  years  previously  he  had  been  so  engrossed  in 
other  fields  of  labor  that  some  entertained  doubts  of  the  fit- 
ness of  the  appointment. 

But  those  who  doubted  did  not  know  the  man. 

He  immediately  concentrated  his  remarkable  faculties  up- 
on his  new  duties,  and  was  said  in  the  space  of  six  weeks  to 
have  read  through  the  entire  series  of  the  Massachusetts  Re- 
ports :  he  surprised  the  whole  bar  by  the  ease  and  ability 
with  which  he  presided  at  nisi  prius ;  and  I  have  been  told  by 
his  colleagues,  not  one  of  whom  survives,  that  he  took  a  lead- 


60  CALEB   CUSHING. 

ing  part  in  the  consultations  of  the  full  court,  especially  up- 
on questions  of  constitutional  and  public  law. 

After  a  service  of  but  ten  months  he  resigned  to  accept  the 
office  of  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States.  Since  that 
time  his  valuable  public  services  are  familiar  to  all,  and  have 
been  fittingly  referred  to  in  the  memorial  of  the  Bar ;  his 
learning  and  his  counsel  have  been  a  support  to  successive 
administrations  of  the  national  government ;  and  his  studies 
in  jurisprudence,  politics,  history  and  literature  were  con- 
tinued without  interruption  to  the  end  of  his  long  life. 

Concurring  in  the  sentiments  of  the  memorial  presented 
by  the  Bar,  I  shall  order  that  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
Mr.  Cushing,  the  memorial  be  recorded,  and  the  court  be 
now  adjourned. 


OTIS  P.  LORD. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  March 
14,  1884,  Messrs.  Northend,  Choate,  Abbott,  Saunders  and 
Thompson  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memo- 
rial of  Mr.  Otis  P.  Lord,  to  be  presented  to  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  Salem,  on  Thursday,  April 
24,  1884,  Chief  Justice  Morton  presiding,  Mr.  Alfred 
A.  Abbott,  in  behalf  of  the  committee,  presented  the  fol- 
lowing memorial : 

May  it  Please  Your  Honor  : — The  Committee  of  the 
Bar  Association  have  had  another  duty  delegated  to  them, 
upon  the  discharge  of  which  they  enter  with  unaffected  diffi- 
dence. 

The  death  of  Judge  Lord  has  already  been  formally  an- 
nounced to  your  Honor's  Court,  and  before  the  full  Court 
for  the  Commonwealth,  eloquent  tongues  have  narrated  the 
events  of  his  life  and  vividly  portrayed  the  striking  traits  of 
his  character  as  a  man  and  a  jurist. 

But  it  seemed  to  us  that  here  in  this  county,  where  he  was 
born,  and  dwelt,  and  died,  where  his  earliest  triumphs  were 
won,  with  whose  social,  political,  and  judicial  history  he  was 
so  long  and  so  closely  identified,  in  this  court  room  which  he 
dedicated,  the  Association  which  he  organized,  and  of  which 
he  was  the  first  President,  would  fail  alike  in  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  dead  and  in  due  regard  to  the  sensibilities  of 
the  living,  if  it  did  not  offer  for  record  some  tribute  of  its 
own,  though  it  be  but  an  humble  repetition  of  a  tale  that 
has  been  told. 

The  main  incidents  of  the  life  of  Judge  Lord,  how,  on 
July  11,  1812,  he  was  born  at  Ipswich,  then  a  shire-town  of 
Essex,  the  son  of  the  old  Register  of  Probate,  Nathaniel 


62  OTIS  P.   LORD. 

Lord,  who,  for  more  than  one  generation,  shared  with  Judge 
Daniel  A.  White  the  love  and  veneration  of  the  people  of 
Essex, — how  he  was  fitted  for  college  at  Bradford  and  at 
Dummer  Academy,  and  entered  Amherst  College  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  graduating  in  the  class  of  1832, — how  he  pursued 
the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Morris  of  Spring- 
field and  in  the  Dane  Law  School  at  Cambridge, — how,  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1835,  he  began  and  continued  practice 
in  his  native  town,  until,  in  1844,  he  removed  to  Salem,  there 
taking  the  office  and  succeeding  to  the  business  of  Joshua 
H.  Ward,  then  recently  appointed  to  the  Bench  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  all  this  time  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer 
and  the  number  of  his  clients  steadily  increasing,  as  he 
ripened  in  learning  and  developed  the  varied  powers  of  his 
great  intellect,  and  became  one  of  the  acknowledged  leaders 
of  the  Essex  Bar, — how,  drawn  into  political  life,  he  repre- 
sented the  city  of  his  residence  and  the  county  in  the  State 
Legislature,  serving  in  the  House  in  1847  and  1848,  in  the 
Senate  in  1849,  and  in  the  House  again  in  1852  and  1853,  in 
the  latter  year  being  also  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  and  there,  by  his  constitutional  learning,  strength 
of  reasoning,  bold  leadership,  and  forensic  eloquence,  winning 
such  deserved  recognition  throughout  the  Commonwealth, 
that  on  his  return  to  the  Legislature,  in  1854,  he  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House,  gaining,  by  his  firm,  impartial,  and 
dignified  conduct  in  the  Chair,  by  his  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  principles  and  details  of  procedure,  and  by  his  sin- 
gular tact  and  unsurpassed  judgment  in  administration,  a 
name  and  fame  as  a  parliamentarian  such  as  few  men  in 
Massachusetts  have  ever  won,  —how,  bearing  all  these  bur- 
dens and  faithfully  discharging  all  these  public  trusts,  he 
still  clung  to  his  profession,  leading  in  all  the  important 
causes  in  his  own  and  in  many  in  other  counties,  and  having 
a  clientage  not  exceeded  in  number  and  consequence  by  that 
of  any  lawyer  of  his  day, — how,  on  the  constitution  of  the 
Superior  Court,  in  1859,  he  was  appointed  one  of  its  Justices, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  until,  in  1875,  he  was  made  an 


OTIS   P.    LORD.  63 

Associate  Justice  of  this  Court,  and  here  aided  in  upholding 
the  high  reputation  of  this  august  tribunal  for  sound  learn- 
ing, judicial  wisdom  and  incorruptible  integrity,  until,  having 
filled  up  the  measure  of  days  allotted  by  the  Psalmist,  he 
sought  retirement  and  rest,  and  soon  went  down  to  an  hon- 
ored grave,  with  the  general  benediction,  "  Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant," — with  all  these  leading  incidents  of 
this  eventful  life  we  have  become  recently  familiar,  as  they 
have  been  set  forth  in  the  courts  and  rehearsed  in  the  public 
press — and  it  is  a  noble  record — and  yet  to  those  of  us  who 
knew  Otis  P.  Lord  from  his  early  manhood  and  through  his 
long  career,  this  recital  is  as  inadequate  to  convey  a  correct 
impression  of  the  real  man  as  would  be  the  lines  upon  the 
map  of  a  country  to  disclose  the  shining  ores  beneath  its 
surface,  the  fruitage  of  its  soil,  or  the  grandeur  and  beauty 
of  its  landscape. 

Judge  Lord  was  cast  in  a  large  and  heroic  mould.  All  the 
powers  of  his  nature  were  upon  a  broad  scale.  Even  his 
prejudices,  emotions  and  passions  were  after  the  strong  type 
of  his  intellectual  faculties.  And  he  had  his  nurture  in  a 
grand  school.  Beginning  his  practice  in  a  neighborhood 
then  somewhat  famous  for  its  litigation,  and  the  nature  of 
which  required  a  delving  among  the  very  roots  of  the  com- 
mon law,  and  gradually  working  his  way  into  causes  which 
involved  the  larger  issues  and  more  liberal  principles  of  the 
Law  Merchant,  he  soon  came  to  measure  his  strength  with  a 
band  of  lawyers,  competition  with  whom  could  not  fail  ta 
arouse  all  his  latent  energies,  and  who,  as  we  look  back  upon 
them  now,  loom  up  in  the  past  in  almost  colossal  proportions. 
Mr.  Leverett  Saltonstall  yet  lingered  in  the  courts,  with  his 
ample  culture,  his  ripe  experience,  and  his  courtly  bearing, 
charming  juries  by  his  manly  eloquence,  and  winning  all 
hearts  by  the  radiant  honesty  and  beauty  of  his  character. 
Mr.  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  the  older  brother  of  Otis,  ripe  and 
accurate  in  his  learning,  skilful  in  dialectics,  acute,  adroit,  of 
unruffled  courtesy  and  exquisite  finish,  yet  striking  blows  as 
hard  as  could  the  mailed  hand  of  a  knight ;  Joshua  H.  Ward,. 


64  OTIS   P.    LORD. 

with  his  flashing  eye,  beaming  smile,  silver  tongue,  and  per- 
ceptions quick  as  intuitions,  whose  brief  but  brilliant  career 
gave  the  fair  promise  of  a  great  fame,  only  to  be  blighted  by 
his  early  death;  Asahel  Huntington,  known  to  most  of  the 
present  members  of  our  bar  only  in  his  retired  and  modest 
position  of  Clerk,  but  who  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  not 
only  on  the  criminal  side,  where  he  prosecuted  with  such 
vigor  and  success,  but  in  civil  causes,  by  his  strong  good 
sense,  his  unrivalled  skill  in  dealing  with  a  case  of  circum- 
stancial  evidence,  his  powers  of  sarcasm,  his  broad  humor, 
his  indomitable  will,  and  his  earnestness  and  energy  born  of 
deep  moral  convictions,  had  such  control  over  an  Essex 
County  jury  as  few  men  have  ever  held, — and  then,  not  to 
name  others,  towering  above  all,  the  peerless  and  incompara- 
ble Rufus  Choate,  not  so  long  removed  from  Essex  but  that 
his  old  clients  still  kept  bim  in  our  courts,  and  where  to  his 
last  days  he  yet  delighted  to  come  and  renew  the  triumphs 
of  his  youth,  with  whom  Mr.  Lord  was  often  associated,  and 
who  was  known  to  have  said  of  his  frequent  junior  that  there 
was  no  lawyer  whose  aid  he  more  eagerly  welcomed,  and  no 
one  whom  he  would  not  quite  as  willingly  see  upon  the 
other  side.  These  were  the  teachers  of  Judge  Lord,  in 
daily  conflict  with  whom  he  had  his  professional  training, 
and  under  the  inspiration  of  whose  example,  every  faculty 
of  his  nature  found  its  full  development. 

But  Judge  Lord  was  no  imitator,  copied  after  no  man, 
was  emphatically  sui  generis,  and  had  from  the  first  an  indi- 
viduality, a  freedom  of  thought  and  an  independence  of  action 
which  stood  by  him  to  the  last. 

Perhaps  of  all  those  who  in  times  past  have  been  foremost 
at  the  Essex  Bar,  and  whose  fame  rests  upon  their  laurels 
won  here,  Judge  Lord  by  general  consent,  stands  primus 
inter  pares,  whether  we  consider  the  extent  and  variety  of 
his  practice,  his  ample  learning,  his  union  of  tact  and  skill 
with  energy  and  force,  his  marvelous  ability  to  deal  with  and 
solve  the  most  complicated  questions  of  law  and  fact,  his 
control  over  the  minds  of  men,  by  the  might  of  pure  reason, 


OTIS   P.   LORD.  65 

enforced  by  a  vehement  and  fervid  eloquence,  or  by  the  sig- 
nal success  which  crowned  his  work.  If  one  were  asked  to 
single  out  the  intellectual  traits  which  most  distinguished 
him,  it  might  be  said  that  they  consisted  in  the  rare  union  in 
one  person,  of  exceptional  powers  of  analysis,  'the  faculty  of 
microscopic  insight  into  details,  a  Scotch  acumen  and  keen- 
ness of  perception,  and  at  the  same  time  a  capacity  for  the 
broad  view,  the  wide  comprehension,  and  the  firm  grasp  of 
the  largest  outlines  of  a  subject.  Perhaps  his  strength  lay 
in  the  well-balanced  combination  and  rigid  discipline  of  all 
his  mental  gifts.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  intellec- 
tual secrets  of  his  success,  they  gained  added  effect  from  the 
moral  qualities  of  the  man.  His  moral  honesty  was  organic 
and  it  was  transparent.  As  his  intellectual  integrity  was  so 
constitutional  and  controlling  that  he  could  not  make  a  sim- 
ple narration  of  facts  otherwise  than  in  exact  conformity 
with  the  truth,  so  that  his  statement  of  an  opponent's  case 
which  he  proposed  to  demolish  was  the  strongest  argument 
to  be  made  in  its  favor,  so  his  moral  integrity  was  equally 
and  conspicuously  a  part  of  his  nature,  and  fortified  and  made 
more  effective  his  mental  abilities.  He  could  not  use  artifice 
or  cunning  devices  with  a  jury,  indirection  or  sophistry  with 
the  Court,  or  sharp  or  questionable  practices  with  a  brother 
attorney.  In  all  his  professional  conduct  and  dealing  he  was 
exemplary.  Perhaps  no  better  illustration  of  his  ruling  sense 
of  right  and  wrong  can  be  given  than  the  fact,  so  well  known 
to  all  his  contemporaries  at  the  bar,  that  though  when  fairly 
launched  in  a  trial,  he  pursued  it  with  impassioned  zeal  and 
fervor,  no  one  ever  more  enjoying  the  delights  of  the  conflict, 
the  gaudia  certaminis,  yet  there  was  no  man  with  whom  it 
was  easier  to  settle  a  controversy,  and  when  it  once  became 
evident  that  a  fair  adjustment  was  possible,  he  was  always 
ready  to  advance  at  least  half  way  in  a  compromise,  and  in 
the  spirit  of  a  just  arbitrator  rather  than  a  partisan  attorney, 
pay  regard  to  and  secure  the  fair  rights  of  both  parties.  His 
whole  life  and  conduct  as  a  lawyer  were  a  complete  refuta- 
tion of  the  shallow  dogma,  that  the  practice  of  the  law,  deal- 


66  OTIS   P.   LORD. 

ing  in  technicalities  and  hedged  about  by  precedents,  while 
it  sharpens  certain  faculties  and  intensifies  some  of  the  powers 
of  the  mind,  yet  narrows  its  breadth  and  dwarfs  its  full  and 
healthy  growth,  and  even  blunts  the  finer  sensibilities  and 
higher  moral  sense.  He  illustrated  that  its  generous  pur- 
suit, involving  the  largest  trusts  and  the  most  sacred  confi- 
dences, can  find  in  the  protection  of  private  rights  and  the 
conservation  of  principles,  which  are  the  foundations  of  pub- 
lic order  and  safety,  the  amplest  field  for  the  development  of 
the  noblest  virtues  and  the  exercise  of  the  supremest  facul- 
ties of  a  full  and  perfect  manhood. 

Of  the  nearly  half  century  of  Judge  Lord's  professional 
life,  a  full  moiety  was  spent  upon  the  bench.  His  brilliant 
career  at  the  bar  had  given  him  a  great  reputation  through- 
out the  Commonwealth,  and  there  were  the  largest  expecta- 
tions of  his  success  as  a  Judge.  To  say  that  these  anticipa- 
tions were  fairly  realized  is  to  stamp  with  unqualified  appro- 
bation his  judicial  labors.  He  brought  to  the  Bench  not 
only  vast  experience,  profound  and  varied  learning,  the 
power  of  acute  discrimination  and  an  irresistible  logic,  and 
a  robust  common  sense  which  instantly  grasped  the  true 
bearing  and  value  of  facts  and  recognized  the  relations  of 
cause  and  effect,  but  an  earnest,  emphatic  and  impressive 
manner,  and  a  command  of  language,  lucid,  terse,  incisive, 
vigorous  and  bold, — so  that,  as  was  once  said  by  a  layman 
after  listening  to  one  of  his  characteristic  charges  to  a  jury, 
"that  trumpet  gives  no  uncertain  sound."  The  ablest  lawyer 
admired  the  precision,  clearness,  fullness  and  force  with 
which  the  legal  principles  governing  a  case  were  stated, 
while  the  dullest  juryman  could  not  fail  to  see  their  applica- 
tion to  the  facts,  which  were  so  marshalled,  weighed  and 
presented  to  his  understanding,  that  the  path  to  the  verdict 
seemed  straight  and  plain. 

When  Judge  Lord  was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  this 
Court,  some  of  his  friends  felt  an  apprehension  that  the 
promotion  had  come  to  him  too  late  in  life  to  admit  of  a 
ready  adaptation  to  its  peculiar  duties,  or  of  his  making  so 


OTIS  P.    LORD.  67 

striking  a  figure  in  this  position,  as  under   more  favorable 
circumstances   his   splendid   abilities    would  certainly  have 
enabled  him  to  do.     But  surely  the  result  proved  that  in  this 
step  there  was  no  cause  for  regret,  either  for  him,  the  profes- 
sion, or  the  public.     What  he  was  in   consultation  is  best 
known  to  your  Honor  and  his  other  associates, — though  it  is 
not  to  be  conceived  how  his  large   acquirements    and  rare 
powers  of  mind,  his  sagacity  and  wisdom,  his  wide  practical 
knowledge   and   subtle   skill  in  solving  the  most  intricate 
problems,  could  have  failed  to  be  of  invaluable  aid  to  the 
Court  in  upholding  the  settled  landmarks  of  the  law,  or  in 
defining  those  nice  distinctions  and  creating  those  new  canons 
which  the  demands  of  modern  society  and  novel  modes  of 
life  and  business  have  made  necessary.     But  in  the  recorded 
opinions  of  the  Court  which  have  come  from  his  pen,  so 
copious  in  their  learning,  sound  in  their  reasoning,  safe  in 
their  conclusions,  and  epigrammatic  in  the  point  and  nerve 
of  the  language  in  which  they  are  clothed,  and  in  the  dis- 
charge of  those  functions  of  his  great  office  which  brought  him 
into  public  view  as  a  nisi  prius  judge,  no  words  of  praise  can  be 
too  extravagant  to  portray  his  excellence.     It  has  been  some- 
times said  that  he  was  brusque  and  austere  in  his  manner, 
and  at  times  harsh  and  severe  in  his  treatment  of  counsel. 
That  he  was  impatient  of  incompetency  and  ignorance,  in- 
dignant at  pettifogging  and  chicanery,  and  quick  to  denounce 
double-dealing  or   fraud,   may   be   true   enough,  but  every 
honest  man's  case  and  every  righteous  cause  were  safe  in  his 
hands,  and  every  honorable  lawyer,  however  inexperienced 
and  timid,  felt  that  he  had  a  friend  in  the  judge  upon  the 
bench,  who,  inspired  by  the  eternal  light  of  justice,   would 
aid  him  in  vindicating  the  truth  and  the  right.     And  how  he 
would  warm  to  his  work,  how  he  would  strip  a  case  of  all 
irrelevant  matter,  brush  away  the  web  of  fiction  and  sophis- 
try, and  bring  out  clear  as  the  day  the  simple  and  real  issues. 
And  how  he  would  rise  to  great  emergencies,  and  when  im- 
portant interests  were  at  stake,  and  character  and  personal 
liberty  involved,  or  life  and  death  hung  trembling  in  the  bal- 


68  OTIS  P.   LORD. 

ance,  how  he  would  become  the  very  embodiment  of  inflexi- 
ble justice,  and  with  righteous  indignation  and  matchless 
fervor  and  eloquence,  vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law.  If 
there  were  spots  on  the  sun,  they  did  not  chill  its  warmth  or 
dim  its  effulgence. 

There  have  been  those  amongst  the  warmest  admirers  of 
Judge  Lord,  and  perhaps  they  were  those  who  knew  him 
best  and  measured  him  most  accurately,  who  have  thought 
that  he  would  have  found  the  fittest  field  for  the  display  of 
his  great  powers  in  the  interpretation  of  constitutional  juris- 
prudence or  in  the  higher  walks  of  statesmanship.  Had  his 
lot  in  life  been  cast  elsewhere  or  in  another  day,  perhaps  this 
might  have  been  so.  Certainly  his  modes  of  thought  and  the 
dignity  of  his  conceptions  were  fashioned  after  the  pattern  of 
those  who  have  moulded  the  organic  law  of  States,  while  the 
unerring  logic,  massive  judgment,  and  eloquent  oratory  with 
which  he  enforced  his  convictions,  remind  us  of  those  who 
seemed  born  "  th'  applause  of  list'ning  senates  to  command." 
There  is  no  page  in  his  eventful  history  brighter  than  that 
which  records  the  part  he  took  in  the  Debates  of  the  Conven- 
tion of  1853 ;  and  his  masterl}'  exposition  of  the  issues  in- 
volved in  the  propositions  submitted  to  the  people,  accom- 
plished more  than  any  other  one  instrumentality  in  bringing 
about  the  final  result.  If  it  was  well  said  of  Lord  Mansfield, 
"  how  sweet  an  Ovid  was  in  Murray  lost,"  as  truly  may  it  be 
said  of  Judge  Lord,  that  our  gain  in  him  as  a  lawyer  and  a 
jurist  was  the  loss  to  the  nation  of  a  publicist  and  a  states- 
man. 

In  private  life  Judge  Lord  was  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  agreeable  of  men,  dignified  but  cordial  in  his  man- 
ners, piquant  and  racy  in  conversation,  botli  just  and  gener- 
ous, a  staunch  friend,  a  kind  neighbor,  an  upright  and  liberal 
citizen,  and  in  his  home,  genial,  hospitable,  gracious,  and 
until  domestic  bereavement  and  the  infirmities  of  age  cast 
their  shadows,  overflowing  with  high  spirits  and  abounding 
in  good  cheer.  Although  after  he  retired  from  active  duty, 
his  mind,  brooding  over  doubts   and    dangers,  might    have 


OTIS   P.   LORD.  69 

grown  morbid  in  what  some  of  his  friends  regarded  as  preju- 
dices, and  his  utterances  have  become  more  emphatic  and 
severe,  yet  those  friends  recognized  in  this  the  mental  and 
moral  type  and  training  which  clung  to  "  the  logic  of  law 
as  against  the  logic  of  events,"  and  an  unswerving  loyalty  to 
the  dictates  of  reason  and  of  conscience.  His  intellectual  vis- 
ion was  undimmed  to  the  last.  He  knew  that  his  days  were 
numbered,  and  he  awaited  the  final  summons  with  the  calm- 
ness of  a  philosopher  and  the  faith  of  a  Christian. 

The  portrait  of  Judge  Lord  hangs  upon  the  wall  before 
us.  We  are  pleased  to  think  that  the  genius  of  the  artist  has 
faithfully  delineated  the  striking  features  of  our  departed 
friend.  It  will  be  a  treasure  fondly  prized  by  the  members 
of  the  Bar,  for  whom  he  ever  cherished  so  warm  a  regard, 
and  which  he  manifested  in  the  generous  provision  of  his  last 
will  and  testament.  But  it  will  be  long  before  those  eyes,  as 
they  bend  down  from  the  canvas  upon  the  busy  scenes  of  this 
court  room  will  rest  upon  one  who  shall  unite  in  himself  all 
those  attributes  as  a  man,  a  lawyer  and  a  jurist,  which  have 
so  distinguished  and  will  ever  keep  bright  in  our  memories 
the  name  of  Otis  Phillips  Lord. 

May  it  please  your  Honor,  it  is  the  request  of  the  Essex 
Bar  Association  that  this  memorial,  feeble  and  inadequate, 
but  truthful  and  sincere,  may  be  placed  upon  the  records  of 
the  Court. 

Mr.  William  D.  Northend  then  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — The  memorial  which 
has  just  now  been  read,  so  fully  and  happily  describes 
the  abilities,  characteristics,  and  services,  of  our  deceased 
brother,  that  we  perhaps  ought  to  be  content  with  a  simple 
expression  of  our  hearty  concurrence.  But  he,  in  the 
performance  of  his  professional  duties,  was  so  distinguished 
and  exemplary,  and  his  loss  to  the  profession  and  the 
community  was  so  great,  that  the  members  of  the  Bar 
desire  to  express  personally,  the  love  and  regard  they  enter- 
tained for  him,  and  their  appreciation  of  the  great  and  irre- 


70  OTIS   P.   LORD. 

parable  loss  we  have  sustained.  Our  deceased  brother  was 
born,  and  during  the  entire  period  of  his  professional  life, 
resided  in  this  county.  The  older  members  of  the  Bar  will 
remember  Judge  Lord  as  the  great  nisi  prius  lawyer  of  the 
county.  Thoroughly  grounded  in  the  principles  of  the  com- 
mon law,  with  a  logical  mind  which  could  seize  upon  and 
apply  with  wonderful  power  the  legal  principles  to  the  facts 
in  a  case,  and  with  a  keenness  and  power  in  cross-examina- 
tion unsurpassed,  he  was  a  most  formidable  opponent  in  the 
trial  of  a  case.  He  was  a  natural  advocate.  He  revelled  in 
his  immense  ability  to  exhaust  all  the  arguments  in  behalf 
of  his  client.  Later,  upon  the  Bench  of  both  our  higher 
courts,  he  exhibited  the  learning  and  power  which  made  him 
so  conspicuous  at  the  Bar.  It  has  been  said  that  the  qualifi- 
cations for  success  as  an  advocate  are  to  a  certain  extent  in- 
compatible with  the  exercise  of  that  strict  impartiality  which 
should  characterize  the  Bench.  But  Judge  Lord  had  in  an 
eminent  degree,  honesty  of  head  and  of  heart,  and  few  men, 
with  his  temperament  and  constitution  of  mind,  ever  better 
met  the  expectations  of  their  friends  upon  the  Bench.  His 
friendships  were  strong,  and  to  those  who  were  permitted  to 
enjoy  personal  intimacy  with  him,  he  was  one  of  the  kindest 
and  most  genial  of  men.  He  finished  a  well  rounded  life  and 
has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers,  full  of  years  and  of  honors. 
In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  I  cordially  second 
the  motion  of  Brother  Abbott,  that  the  memorial  be  entered 
upon  the  records  of  this  Court. 

Me.  Daniel  Saunders  then  spoke  as  follows  : — 

The  reputation  of  Judge  Lord  as  a  lawyer  of  unusual 
ability,  was  established  very  early  after  his  admission  to  the 
Bar. 

His  first  cases  in  court  were  presented  with  a  clearness  and 
conciseness  of  statement  of  law  and  fact,  which  gave  him  a 
standing  at  once  with  both  the  Bar  and  the  Court.  The  im- 
portance of  a  clear  and  comprehensive  opening  of  a  case  to  a 
jury  has  never  been  over-estimated  by  lawyers  of  much  prac- 


OTIS   P.   LORD.  71 

tice.  In  cases  of  great  importance,  senior  counsel  often  in- 
struct their  juniors  in  this  part  of  their  duty  with  great  care, 
or  perform  the  work  themselves.  When,  however,  in  his 
early  practice,  leading  members  of  the  Bar  had  Mr.  Lord  as 
their  junior,  they  soon  learned  to  give  themselves  no  anxiety 
as  to  the  opening  statements  of  their  cases.  His  openings 
were  so  clear  and  distinct  that  when  he  had  finished,  both 
the  court  and  jury  had  a  full  understanding  of  the  questions 
at  issue ;  matters  were  so  simplified  that  the  least  intelligent 
upon  the  panel  had  a  correct  idea  of  the  questions  upon 
which  his  verdict  was  to  be  rendered. 

A  few  years  of  practice,  brought  him  a  full  docket  and 
retainers  in  the  most  important  cases.  When  I  came  to  this 
Bar  a  few  years  after  his  admission,  the  question,  who 
was  its  leader,  was  an  open  one.  Many  gave  the  position  to 
him,  others  assigned  it  to  his  distinguished  elder  brother, 
Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  then  in  full  tide  of  successful  practice. 
His  brother  had  a  gravity  of  manner  combined  with  a  keen 
intellect  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  law,  which  led  both 
court  and  jury.  Judge  Lord  had  an  equal  keenness,  with 
as  thorough  a  knowledge  of  law,  and  an  impulsive  force  and 
vigor  not  always  under  rigid  restraint,  but  always  logical, 
which  compelled  both  court  and  jury  to  sustain  his  conclusions 
of  law  and  fact.  When  ill  health  compelled  his  brother  to 
retire,  there  were  none  left  to  divide  with  him  the  honors  of 
leadership. 

What  most  surprised  the  younger  members  of  the  bar  when 
they  had  occasion  to  engage  his  services  as  their  senior,  was 
the  ease  with  which  he  grasped  the  whole  merits  of  their 
cases.  I  know  from  personal  experience,  that  in  cases  to 
which  I  had  given  days  and  weeks  of  careful  labor  in  their 
preparation  and  had  looked  through  every  digest  to  find 
authorities  to  sustain  my  law,  a  brief  consultation  was  all 
that  was  needed  to  give  him  a  full  insight  into  all  the  merits 
of  the  case  upon  the  facts ;  and  the  application  of  a  few  well- 
known  principles  settled  all  questions  of  law.  Thus  hastily 
equipped,   he   was   ready  to  fight  successfully  the  hardest 


72  OTIS   P.   LORD. 

battles  in  legal  warfare.  In  the  examination  of  witnesses  he 
had  a  marvelous  power  of  calling  out  every  fact  bearing  upon 
the  case.  A  single  fact  elicited,  gave  him  a  clue  to  the  whole 
chain  of  evidence.  No  matter  how  stupid,  forgetful  or  dis- 
honest a  witness  might  be,  he  seldom  left  the  stand  with  any- 
material  fact  withheld  or  concealed.  His  cross-examinations 
were  thorough  and  exhaustive,  though  sometimes  the  great 
quickness  and  clearness  of  his  mind  led  him  to  deal  harshly 
with  a  witness,  attributing  to  him  an  intent  to  withhold  facts, 
when  only  sluggishness  or  confusion  of  mind  prevented  him 
from  readily  testifying  to  all  matters  within  his  knowledge. 

Upon  political  questions  Judge  Lord  had  strong  convic- 
tions and  the  courage  of  his  convictions.  Never  a  politician, 
in  the  common  acceptation  of  that  term,  but  always  a  strong 
advocate  of  the  principles  and  the  candidates  of  the  party  whose 
cause  he  espoused.  Upon  his  first  appearance  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  to  which  he  was  frequently  called,  he  was 
recognized  as  a  party  leader  of  commanding  ability ;  but  in 
matters  of  legislation  he  was  judicious  and  conservative, 
giving  the  weight  of  his  great  talents  only  to  those  measures 
which  he  believed  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  body 
politic. 

In  social  life,  he  enjoyed  in  a  marked  degree,  the  society 
of  his  friends,  with  whom  his  unaffected  affability  and  kind- 
ness attested  the  sincerity  and  warmth  of  his  friendship. 

Called  from  the  bar  to  the  bench  (a  step  upward  in  our 
profession,  but  whether  a  step  forward  in  the  case  of  Judge 
Lord  is  a  mooted  question  among  his  friends),  he  carried 
with  him  that  quick  perception  of  the  merits  of  a  case  in  all 
its  bearings,  which  so  distinguished  him  at  the  bar,  a  per- 
ception which  sometimes  made  him  impatient  at  the  slow- 
ness with  which  counsel  travelled,  and  he  frequently  urged 
them  forward  with  more  haste  than  they  were  well  capable 
of.  His  mind  was  so  clear  and  active  that  he  was  not  always 
able  to  sympathize  with  those  of  slower  pace.  This  great 
quickness  which  made  him  foremost  at  the  bar,  was  upon  the 
bench    sometimes    a   source   of   impatience  to  himself  and 


0TI8  P.   LORD.  73 

annoyance  to  counsel,  but  it  gave  him  great  strength  in  his 
charges  to  a  jury.  His  charges  were  clear  and  strong,  us- 
ually brief,  yet  so  full  and  explicit  that  the  jury  were  never 
left  in  doubt  as  to  the  matter  to  be  considered  by  them ;  the 
facts  to  be  found  and  the  law  applicable  thereto. 

No  man  at  the  bar  or  upon  the  bench  loved  justice  and  fair 
dealing  more  than  he  did.  At  the  bar  an  agreement  made 
by  him  was  as  binding  as  a  judgment  of  the  Court.  Upon 
the  bench  the  least  semblance  of  trickery  or  fraud  in  counsel 
or  client  was  sure  to  be  exposed  with  scathing  rebuke.  In 
matters  of  law,  his  rulings  were  explicit,  and  in  a  bill  of  ex- 
ceptions never  changed  or  shaded  to  give  them  a  different 
effect,  or  to  deprive  them  of  the  significance  which  they  re- 
ceived during  the  progress  of  a  trial. 

The  professional,  official  and  social  character  of  Judge 
Lord  can  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words.  He  was  a  great 
lawyer,  a  powerful  advocate,  a  wise  legislator,  a  strong, 
sound  judge,  a  firm  friend  and  an  honest  man.  When  the 
history  of  Essex  County  is  written,  his  name  will  be  found 
in  the  front  ranks  of  those  peerless  men  who  have  made  Essex 
County  the  first  county  in  the  State,  as  the  birthplace  of 
great  lawyers,  brilliant  advocates,  and  eminent  jurists. 

Mr.  Charles  P.  Thompson  then  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor:  I  came  to  the  bar  of  this 
county  too  late  to  witness  the  exhibitions  of  Mr.  Justice  Lord's 
ability  as  an  advocate,  although  I  remember  to  have  heard 
him  cross-examine  a  defendant,  who  had  offered  himself  as  a 
witness  in  a  criminal  case,  where  he  assisted  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  prosecution.  That  cross-examination  was  ter- 
rific ;  his  sudden  and  powerful  mental  grip  so  checked  the 
witness'  circulation  that  he  fainted.  In  a  subsequent  trial 
of  the  case,  Judge  Lord  was  a  witness,  and  testified  in 
relation  to  what  the  defendant  said  in  that  examination, 
and  on  being  asked  by  the  counsel  for  the  defendant  if 
he  did  not  examine  him  "  somewhat  harshly,"  he  replied  ; 
"  somewhat  energetically."     I  think  all  who  have  seen  him 


74  OTIS  P.   LORD. 

at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench  can  well  understand  what  an 
energetic  cross  examination  by  him  must  have  been.  No 
man  had  a  more  enviable  reputation  for  ability  of  the  highest 
order  at  the  bar,  than  he.  He  stood  foremost  among  the  ablest 
lawyers  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  it  is  certain  that  his  repu- 
tation was  based  upon  an  honest  and  solid  foundation,  won- 
derful mental  powers,  enriched  by  diligent  study  of  the  ele- 
mentary principles  of  law  and  the  application  of  those  prin- 
ciples as  illustrated  in  the  reports.  He  had  an  honest  head 
and  an  honest  heart.  Those  who  have  known  him  as  a  judge, 
will  readily  comprehend  how  forcible  were  his  arguments. 
But  I  have  been  a  frequent  witness  of  the  manner  in  which 
he  performed  the  duties  of  a  judge  during  all  the  time  he 
was  upon  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  and  upon  the  bench 
of  this  Court,  and  I  am  sure  that  no  expressions  of  appreci- 
ation as  to  the  ability  and  faithfulness  with  which  he  per- 
formed those  important  duties,  can  be  considered  as  exagger- 
ations. He  brought  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the 
bench,  a  mind  most  thoroughly  trained  for  judicial  investiga- 
tions, with  great  familiarity  with  legal  principles,  and  large 
experience  at  the  bar.  For  quickness  and  clearness  of  per- 
ception, for  strength  and  capacity  to  deal  with  the  most  in- 
tricate questions,  and  unravel  the  knottiest  judicial  problems, 
and  for  clear  and  forcible  statement  he  was  the  admiration 
of  all  who  witnessed  his  judicial  action.  And  all  can  bear 
testimony  to  his  love  for  honest,  bold  and  fearless  advocacy, 
and  his  contempt  for  everything  like  disingenuousness,  decep- 
tion or  fraud.  I  will  not  say  more.  My  own  feelings  and 
sentiments  and  those  of  the  bar  have  been  more  fitly  expressed 
in  the  memorial  presented  and  the  remarks  of  those  who  have 
preceded  me,  than  it  is  possible  for  me  to  express  them.  But 
I  could  not  well  refrain  from  saying  a  word  individually  in 
recognition  of  the  distinguished  merits  of  one  before  whom 
in  his  official  capacity,  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  appear 
so  often,  and  with  so  much  satisfaction,  and  from  whom  in 
common  with  the  other  members  of  this  bar,  I  have  always 
received  so  great  personal  kindness. 


OTIS  P.   LORD.  75 

Chief  Justice  Morton  then  said  : — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — I  have  listened  with  deep  in- 
terest and  feeling  to  the  beautiful  memorial  of  Judge  Lord, 
drawn  on  your  behalf  with  the  loving  hand  of  a  friend,  but 
with  the  discriminating  judgment  of  a  critic. 

When,  soon  after  his  death,  a  similar  memorial  service  was 
held  before  the  Court  for  the  Commonwealth,  I  had  occasion, 
on  behalf  of  the  whole  Court,  to  express  the  deep  sadness  felt 
by  us  all  on  account  of  the  sickness  and  death  of  our  associate 
and  friend.  The  same  sadness  and  sense  of  loss  was  felt  by 
the  bar  and  the  people  of  the  whole  Commonwealth.  We 
lost  an  able,  learned,  and  valued  assistant ;  the  bar  and  the 
people  lost  a  vigorous,  fearless,  upright  magistrate,  of  great 
learning  and  of  unquestioned  integrity  and  purity.  In  every 
relation  of  his  life  as  a  private  citizen,  as  a  legislator,  as  an 
advocate  at  the  bar,  and  as  a  judge,  he  was  a  man  of  marked 
individuality  and  strength,  and  everywhere  made  himself 
felt  as  a  power. 

For  the  first  half  of  his  mature  life  he  was  a  member  of 
your  bar.  I  need  not,  in  this  presence,  dwell  upon  the  great 
qualities  which  distinguished  his  career  at  the  bar,  upon  his 
abundant  learning,  his  great  mental  vigor,  his  keen  insight 
into  the  motives  and  forces  which  controlled  the  minds  of 
jurors  and  witnesses,  his  power  of  analyzing  and  grouping 
evidence  in  a  case,  or  his  vigorous,  aggressive  and  caustic  elo- 
quence. These  are  best  remembered  by  the  older  members 
of  your  bar  who  have  met  him  in  the  contests  of  the  court- 
room. It  is  the  strongest  assertion  of  his  great  abilities  and 
success,  to  state  the  fact  that  for  many  years  he  was  the  ac- 
knowledged leader  of  the  Essex  Bar. 

In  1859,  a  partial  reorganization  of  our  judicial  system  was 
made  and  the  Superior  Court  was  established,  with  extensive 
jurisdiction  and  large  and  important  powers  and  functions. 

It  was  universally  regarded  as  a  matter  of  public  congrat- 
ulation that  Judge  Lord  was  willing  to  accept  a  seat  upon 
this  Court  as  one  of  its  justices.  From  that  time,  until  he 
was  stricken  down  by  disease,  a  period  of  nearly  a  quarter 


76  OTIS   P.   LORD. 

of  a  century,  he  rendered  most  valuable  services  as  a  member 
of  the  two  highest  courts  of  the  Commonwealth. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  do  more  than  merely  to  refer  to 
his  distinguished  merits  in  these  positions,  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  bar  and  the  people  of  the  State.  His 
fame  belongs  to  the  Commonwealth:  but  there  is  a  special 
fitness  that  the  bar  of  this  county  should  take  notice  of  his 
death  by  some  suitable  memorial.  He  was  one  of  your  bar. 
Here  he  laid  the  foundations  of  his  great  fame.  He  always 
retained  a  lively  interest  in  and  love  for  this  bar,  an  interest 
and  a  love  manifested  by  the  latest  act  of  his  life,  when, 
speaking  through  his  last  will  and  testament,  he  made  pro- 
vision for  the  support  and  increase  of  your  law  library,  in 
which  he  had,  as  you  have,  a  just  pride. 

I  would  adopt  as  my  own,  the  sentiments  expressed  in 
your  memorial  and  in  the  eloquent  and  touching  tributes 
which  have  been  paid  by  so  many  of  your  number ;  and,  as 
you  request,  shall  order  that  the  memorial  be  entered  upon 
the  records  of  the  Court,  as  a  permanent  monument  of  our 
respect  and  affection  for  our  departed  friend. 


STEPHEN  BRADSHAW  IVES. 


On  February  9,  1884,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, Messrs.  Northend,  Choate,  Abbott,  Saunders  and 
Thompson  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  for  the 
Court  a  memorial  of  Stephen  B.  Ives. 

Memorial. 

At  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  held  in  Salem  on  Thursday, 
April  24,  1884,  Chief  Justice  Morton  presiding,  Mr. 
Alfred  A.  Abbott,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee,  presented 
and  read  the  following  memorial : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — On  the  8th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary last,  Mr.  Stephen  Bradshaw  Ives,  for  so  many 
years  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Essex  Bar,  departed  this 
life. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  on  the 
following  day,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  and  to 
present  to  this  Court  a  memorial  of  the  deceased  ;  and  it  is  in 
fulfilment  of  the  duty  assigned  them  that  that  Committee,  in 
behalf  of  the  Association,  now  craves  your  Honor's  attention. 

Mr.  Ives  was  born  in  Salem,  March  9,  1827.  He  came  of 
an  ancestry  which,  on  both  the  paternal  and  maternal  sides, 
was  representative  of  the  earlier  settlers  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay.  He  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Stephen  B.  Ives,  a  gentleman 
whose  genial  presence  was  familiar  to  us  all ;  who  at  more 
than  four-score  years  preserved  almost  the  vigor  and 
bloom  of  youth,  and  whose  decease  preceded  by  but  a  few 
short  months  the  untimely  death  of  the  son  in  whom  he  had 
such  just  and  loving  pride. 

Mr.  Ives  had  his  early  education  and  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege in  the  public  schools  of  Salem,  entered  Harvard  in  the 
year  1844,  and  was  graduated  in  course  with  the  class  of  1848. 
After  leaving  the  University  he  was  engaged  for  a  brief  period 
in  the  occupation  of  school  teaching,  during  one  season  at 


78  STEPHEN   BRADSHAW   IVES. 

Newbury,  and  afterward  in  his  own  city  as  principal  of  one  of 
its  grammar  schools;  and  to  the  elementary  training  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature  thus  had  and  acquired,  he  was 
accustomed  to  attribute  much  of  his  success  in  after  life. 

But  his  mind  soon  became  turned  to  the  profession  for 
which  it  early  became  evident  that  he  was  peculiarly  adapted, 
and  he  entered  and  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office 
of  Messrs.  Northend  &  Choate.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  the  March  Term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1851, 
and  for  a  year  or  two  following  filled  the  position  of  Clerk  of 
the  Salem  Police  Court.  Fortunately  for  him  and  the  pro- 
fession, he  was  soon  relieved  from  a  service  which  could 
afford  little  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  powers  ;  and  in  1853 
he  entered  upon  that  course  of  active  labor  at  the  bar  which 
ended  only  with  his  life. 

Mr.  Ives  brought  to  his  chosen  work  rare  native  and  ac- 
quired gifts.  He  was  endowed  with  intellectual  abilities  of 
a  high  order, — quick  perceptive  faculties,  a  capacity  for 
acute  reasoning  and  of  swiftly  reaching  conclusions,  remark- 
able powers  of  observation,  a  singularly  ready  and  retentive 
memory,  and  that  greatest  of  all  mental  gifts,  the  ability  to 
concentrate  every  faculty  of  the  mind  upon  a  given  subject 
or  point. 

With  these  natural  endowments,  trained  and  expanded  by 
early  studies,  especially  in  the  science  of  mathematics,  of 
which  he  was  always  fond ;  by  varied  reading  and  generous 
culture,  with  a  sanguine  temperament,  eager,  ardent,  hopeful, 
and  brave  ;  with  an  admiration  for  his  profession  as  warm  as 
that  of  a  lover,  and  a  belief  in  its  high  mission  as  profound  as 
that  of  a  devotee  in  his  religion, — he  began,  and  for  thirty 
years  pursued,  a  career  which  had  had  few  parallels  in  the 
history  of  the  Essex  Bar. 

There  was  no  branch  of  legal  practice  in  which  he  did  not 
participate,  and  in  which  he  did  not  seem  equally  at  home. 
In  jury  trials,  both  on  the  civil  and  criminal  sides ;  in  the 
argument  of  questions,  to  the  full  court ;  in  cases  involving 
commercial  law  and  the  law  of  real  estate ;  in  equity  and 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW    IVES.  79 

probate  and  insolvency ;  before  city  councils  and  committees 
of  the  Legislature, — in  whatever  usual  or  novel  cause  could 
arise  in  a  general  practice,  he  seemed  always  ready,  and  never 
at  a  moment's  loss  as  to  the  principles  which  governed,  or 
the  line  of  conduct  to  be  pursued.  If  he  had  graven  "Semper 
paratus  "  on  his  crest,  the  legend  would  have  been  no  empty 
boast. 

During  a  quarter  of  a  century  there  was  hardly  an  important 
suit  in  Essex  County, — certainly  not  in  his  own  part  of  the 
county, — in  which  he  was  not  retained  upon  the  one  side  or  the 
other.  His  life  may  be  said  to  have  been  spent  in  the  court- 
room :  nothing  there  escaped  his  observation.  He  was  nearly  as 
familiar  with  the  dockets  as  were  those  who  had  them  spec- 
ially in  charge, — knew  every  claim  which  was  in  litigation, 
and  the  details  of  every  action  which  was  tried, — so  that 
when  in  his  own  practice  there  came  a  case  which  was  appar- 
ently of  novel  impression,  and  without  a  precedent,  he  could 
almost  always  furnish  an  analogy,  or  some  ruling  or  adjudi- 
cation which  threw  light  upon  the  point  in  dispute,  and 
illumined  the  way  to  his  own  success. 

As  a  jury-lawyer  Mr.  Ives  had  in  his  day  few  equals.  He 
delighted  in  the  work,  and  courted  rather  than  shunned  the 
sharpest  encounter.  Thoroughly  master  of  his  case,  he  would 
bring  out  in  full  relief  its  strongest  points,  while  with  match- 
less ingenuity  he  would  unveil  and  expose  the  weak  points 
of  the  opposing  side.  Equally  skilful  at  fence,  and  strong 
in  logic ;  alert,  watchful,  eager,  intense  ;  in  his  powers  as  a 
cross-examiner  unsurpassed,  and  in  the  discussion  of  ques- 
tions of  fact,  clear,  sensible,  cogent  and  convincing, — his 
success  with  juries  was  as  marked  as  it  was  deserved.  He 
did  not  compel  verdicts  by  the  persuasive  and  controlling 
powers  of  eloquence.  He  had  not  that  temperament  or  genius 
that  could  rise  to  the  highest  flights  of  the  orator,  and  which 
by  sympathetic  appeals  to  human  passions  can  override  the 
stern  realities  of  fact,  and  make  the  worse  appear  the  better 
reason.  His  success  was  due  to  careful  preparation  of  his 
cases  ;  to  searching  analysis  of  the  facts  and  full  control  of 


80  STEPHEN    BRADSHAW   IVES. 

the  law  applicable  thereto,  to  keen  observation  of  men  ;  to 
unflinching  labor  in  acquiring  a  familiar  knowledge  of  the 
science,  art,  or  business  involved  in  the  controversy  ;  and  to 
fair,  square,  vigorous,  and  manly  argument  upon  the  real 
merits  of  the  case.  Those  who  have  observed  his  conduct  of  an 
important  cause,  in  which  the  issues  turned  upon  the  nicest 
questions  of  surgery  or  medicine,  or  practical  problems  of  me- 
chanical skill,  have  marvelled  not  only  at  his  easy  familiarity 
with  the  nomenclature  of  the  subject,  but  at  his  apparent  com- 
mand of  its  principles  and  fundamental  laws,  which  enabled 
him  to  detect  and  expose  empiricism,  charlatanry,  and 
fraud. 

But,  on  the  whole,  his  well-recognized  eminence  and 
achievements  as  a  lawyer  were  due  not  so  much  to  his  supe- 
rior attainments  or  greater  abilities  in  any  one  direction,  or  to 
any  superlative  or  phenomenal  or  occasional  excellence,  as  to 
the  even  poise  and  constant  readiness  of  his  powers,  perhaps 
never  soaring  above  a  certain  mark,  but  that  a  high  one, — 
certainly  never  falling  below  it; — and  because  he  was  well- 
armed  at  all  points,  totus,  teres,  atque  rotundus,  and  did  every- 
thing which  he  had  to  do  faithfully  and  well. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  the  fame  of  the  most 
successful  lawyer  is  but  short-lived,  and  rarely  survives  the 
generation  with  which  he  is  contemporaneous.  But  the  in- 
fluence of  such  a  lawyer  may  live  on  in  the  lessons  which 
his  example  teaches  to  his  associates,  and  the  good  results 
may  be  widespread  and  long-enduring.  There  were  certain 
respects  in  which  Brother  Ives  was  a  most  worthy  exemplar. 
Though  special  pleading  is  well-nigh  an  obsolete  science,  yet 
how  much  of  success  in  practice  is  even  now  dependent  upon 
the  skilfully  drawn  and  accurate  declaration  and  answer,  and 
the  many  interlocutory  writings  which  the  emergencies  of  a 
case  may  demand.  In  this  particular  Mr.  Ives  will  long  be 
a  model  for  those  who  succeed  him.  Not  only  was  he  won- 
derfully facile,  prompt  and  ingenious,  but  in  language  as 
clear  and  concise  as  his  penmanship  was  neat  and  elegant,  he 
would  put  upon  paper  the  exact  statement  of  his  case  or  of 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW   IVES.  81 

the  questions  in  dispute  ;  and  the  verdict  of  the  jury  or  the 
finding  of  the  court  would  be  the  logical  corollary  of  the 
written  pleadings  in  the  cause.  While  his  facility  and  ac- 
complishments in  this  regard  were  unique,  and  may  well 
challenge  competition  in  this  day  of  loose  and  slovenly 
pleading,  his  neatness,  precision,  accuracy  and  logic  will 
furnish  precedents  for  better  methods,  and  help  lead  to  a 
truer  and  more  correct  practice. 

There  was  another  respect  in  which  Mr.  Ives'  conduct  as 
a  lawyer  may  well  serve  as  a  pattern  and  an  example.  He 
had  the  highest  sense  not  only  of  professional  courtesy,  but 
of  professional  honor  and  honesty.  In  all  his  dealings  with 
his  brethren  he  was  liberal,  accommodating  and  kind,  never 
punctilious  or  exacting,  practised  no  low  or  unworthy  arts, 
never  resorted  to  a  trick  or  subterfuge,  fought  hard,  but  al- 
ways in  a  manly  way ;  and  in  his  dealings  with  the  Court 
kept  ever  in  mind  that  significant  part  of  his  oath,  that  in 
the  office  of  an  attorney  within  the  courts,  he  would  conduct 
himself  with  all  good  fidelity,  as  well  to  the  courts  as  to  his 
clients.  And  thus  it  was  that  there  was  no  concealment  or 
evasion,  no  attempt  to  obtain  a  favorable  ruling  by  a  sup- 
pression of  adjudicated  law  or  known  facts  and  never  a  tacit 
consent  to  a  triumph  which  might  be  secured  through  a  mis- 
apprehension or  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of  the  judge ; 
for  he  had  that  noble  pride  in  the  Bench  which  every  true 
lawyer  will  cherish,  and  felt  as  a  personal  affront  any  impu- 
tation upon  its  unerring  accuracy  and  absolute  verity.  And 
thus  it  was  that,  after  a  long  and  heated  trial,  arousing  every 
energy,  sharpening  every  faculty,  exciting  every  emotion, 
and  ruffling  even  the  best  governed  temper,  he  would  sit 
calmly  down  and  draw  up  a  bill  of  exceptions  or  a  report  of 
the  case,  so  truthfully  and  fairly  presenting  the  points  at  is- 
sue as  to  require  little  if  any  emendation,  and  secure  at  once 
the  acquiescence  of  opposing  counsel  and  the  approval  of  the 
Court. 

Mr.  Ives  prided  himself  upon  being  a  lawyer,  and  only  a 
lawyer,  having  a  profound  conviction  that  no  calling  was 


82  STEPHEN  BRADSHAW"  IVES. 

more  useful  or  honorable,  no  position  more  exalted,  or  hav- 
ing higher  responsibilities  or  nobler  duties.  And  so  he  had 
no  political  aspirations,  and  never  desired  or  held  any  public 
office,  except  as  a  member  of  the  School  Committee  of  his 
native  city,  the  duties  of  which  he  for  several  years  dis- 
charged with  punctilious  fidelity  and  in  grateful  payment  of 
what  he  regarded  as  a  sacred  debt.  But  as  a  citizen  he  was 
thoughtful  and  earnest,  having  decided  party  affinities,  yet 
independent  and  fearless  in  the  exercise  of  his  own  private 
judgment  of  men  and  measures.  In  social  life  he  was  affa- 
ble, sprightly  and  entertaining.  Full  of  anecdote  and  inci- 
dent, sweet-tempered  and  unselfish,  vivacious  and  mirthful, 
he  charmed  by  his  frank  manners,  and  won  confidence  and 
regard  by  his  uniform  rectitude,  sturdy  manliness,  and  un- 
failing good  sense. 

Mr.  Ives  had  by  nature  a  vigorous  constitution,  and  great 
capacity  for  labor.  For  many  years  he  knew  no  infirmity 
and  sought  no  rest  from  his  work.  In  summer  and  winter, 
year  after  year,  from  one  court  to  another,  from  term  to  term, 
he  toiled  on,  now  going  to  this  jury  or  judge,  and  then  to  the 
other,  apparently  without  weariness  or  fatigue.  His  brethren 
wondered  at  his  untiring  energy  and  his  powers  of  endurance. 
But  the  bow  always  bent  must  lose  at  last  its  elasticity. 
Nature  abused  will  have  her  sure  revenge,  and  the  inevitable 
day  came  of  weakness  and  waning  strength.  Too  late  now 
the  enforced  rest,  and  foreign  travel,  and  milder  climes.  Al- 
luring but  vain  promises  of  convalescence,  and  the  indomi- 
table will  and  unequalled  courage  of  our  friend  brought  him 
back  once  and  again  to  his  work.  At  the  last  September 
Term  of  the  Superior  Court  he  labored  for  three  weeks  in 
the  trial  of  several  important  causes ;  and  though  unable  to 
be  upon  his  feet,  and  by  the  kind  indulgence  of  the  presiding 
Justice  examining  witnesses  and  addressing  court  and  jury 
while  seated,  his  mind  never  seemed  more  active,  his  percep- 
tions quicker,  his  grasp  more  firm,  his  signal  ability  as  a  jury 
lawyer  more  marked  and  conspicuous.  But  it  was  the  last 
of  his  well-fought  fields.     Then  followed  the  few  months  dur- 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAw"  IVES.  83 

ing  which  he  lingered,  now  in  hope,  oftener  perhaps  in 
doubt,  but  never  despairing,  still  with  interest  unabated  in 
the  work  he  had  left,  eager  to  hear  and  know  of  all  that  was 
transpiring  in  the  courts,  and,  like  the  stricken  soldier,  listen- 
ing intent  for  the  sounds  of  the  far-off  battle,  in  which  he 
could  no  longer  wield  a  weapon  or  strike  a  blow, — and  then, 
soothed  by  the  kind  ministrations  of  domestic  love,  and,  as 
we  may  well  hope,  with  an  unfaltering  trust  in  the  Divine 
love,  in  which  he  had  always  humbly  believed,  he  went  to 
his  eternal  rest. 

And  this,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  was  the  man  and  the 
brother  so  lately  in  the  midst  of  us,  so  full  of  vital  energy 
and  force,  so  eager  and  earnest,  so  cheerful  and  brave,  so  in 
the  van  of  every  forensic  encounter,  so  much  an  integral  part 
of  our  professional  life,  the  echoes  of  whose  voice  yet  linger 
within  these  walls ;  to  whom  the  Essex  Bar,  of  which  for  a 
generation  he  was  the  pride  and  ornament,  and  the  Bar  As- 
sociation, of  which  for  many  years  he  was  the  chosen  head, 
tender  their  humble  tribute,  and  respectfully  ask  that,  for 
his  memory  and  example's  sake,  it  may  have  a  place  upon 
the  records  of  the  Court. 

The  request  of  the  memorialist  was  seconded  by  Hon. 
William  D.  Northend,  President  of  the  Association,  in 
the  following  words : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — Of  Mr.  Ives  it  is  hardly 
necessary  for  me  to  speak  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of 
this  Bar,  who  all  knew  and  loved  him  so  well.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  ability  and  untiring  industry.  Few  men  in  this 
county  ever  tried  more  causes,  or  tried  them  better,  and  no 
man  was  more  honorable  in  the  performance  of  every  profes- 
sional duty. 

In  behalf  of  the  Bar  Association  I  cordially  second  the 
motion  of  Brother  Abbott,  that  the  memorial  be  entered  up- 
on the  records  of  this  Court. 

Hon.  Daniel  Saunders  then  addressed  the  Court  as  fol- 
lows : — 


84  STEPHEN   BRADSHAW  IVES. 

Of  the  character  of  our  late  Brother  Ives  as  a  lawyer,  no 
one  of  the  Bar  needs  any  statement  of  mine  to  confirm  his 
opinion.  He  was  the  prominent  lawyer  in  all  cases  of  impor- 
tance in  our  county.  His  knowledge  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  laws,  his  learning  in  its  technicalities,  and  his 
ready  application  of  those  principles  in  the  trial  of  causes, 
made  his  services  of  the  highest  importance  when  much  was 
at  stake.  And  when  parties  found  they  could  not  settle 
their  controversies  without  the  aid  of  the  courts,  they  sought 
the  assistance  of  Mr.  Ives,  and  very  frequently  one  party, 
however  diligent  he  had  been,  found  his  adversary  had  gained 
a  decided  advantage  by  a  few  hours'  earlier  retainer.  His 
ability  at  once  to  see  the  weak  as  well  as  the  strong  points 
of  a  case,  his  power  of  attack,  his  quick  perception  of  the 
best  point  of  defence,  made  him  the  equal  of  any  man  I  ever 
knew  in  the  conduct  and  management  of  a  suit  at  law.  His 
constant  practice,  his  great  ability,  his  success,  and  his  ever 
fair  and  honorable  conduct  are  known  to  every  member  of 
the  Bar.  His  works  and  their  results  are  the  only  eulogy  he 
needs  as  a  great  lawyer. 

But  I  desire  to  say  a  word  of  him  as  a  man.  Since  he  came 
to  the  Bar  I  have  been  most  intimately  acquainted  with  him. 
I  have  seen  upon  many  occasions  the  very  recesses  of  his 
heart,  and  have  found  there  the  warmest  feelings  of  friend- 
ship, and  a  nobleness  and  kindness  which  willjmakehis  mem- 
ory more  cherished  and  enduring  with  me  than  the  recollec- 
tion of  his  great  ability  as  a  lawyer  of  the  highest  rank. 

In  the  trial  of  causes  he  was  ever  persistent  and  aggressive. 
Personal  friendship  with  his  brother  lawyers  never  came  be- 
tween him  and  his  duty  to  his  client;  but  when  the  contest 
was  over,  his  cordial  greeting  showed  that  the  sparks  evolved 
in  the  cla.sh  of  arms  contained  no  personal  heat,  and  the 
friendship  of  the  past  had  lost  nothing  of  its  warmth.  Our 
respect  and  confidence  in  him  had  been  increased  with  each 
successive  struggle  in  his  always  fair  and  honorable  warfare. 

I  saw  him  frequently  during  the  last  months  of  his  life, 
when  he  was  suffering  not  only  from  physical  pain,  but  also 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW    IVES.  85 

with  that  pain  of  the  mind  which  enforced  confinement  al- 
ways brings  to  so  active  a  laborer  as  he  had  been.  And  in 
all  those  weary  months  he  displayed  a  resignation  and  forti- 
tude that  were  the  legitimate  outcome  of  that  character 
which  was  best  known  to  his  most  intimate  friends.  His  warm 
heart  and  manly  character  will  ever  make  his  memory  dear 
to  his  associates  ;  his  brilliancy,  his  learning,  and  his  great 
ability  will  add  a  new  page  to  the  history  of  the  eminent 
men  of  the  Essex  Bar. 

He  was  followed  by  Hon.  Charles  P.  Thompson,  who 
said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — I  trust  I  may  be  par- 
doned for  adding  a  word  to  the  very  eloquent,  appreciative, 
and  just  tributes  paid  to  the  memory  of  our  departed  brother. 
Mr.  Ives  I  have  known  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  intimately, 
as  a  lawyer  and  a  man,  and  to  set  forth  his  character  we  must 
describe  a  model  lawyer  and  a  model  man.  The  facility  with 
which  he  dealt  with  the  most  intricate  questions  of  law  and 
fact  has  been  a  marvel  to  all  who  have  been  associated  with 
him. 

No  lawyer  was  ever  better  equipped  for  the  successful 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  most  familiar  with  all 
matters  of  practice,  as  well  as  of  law,  and  had  a  capacity  for 
acquainting  himself  with  the  law  and  facts  of  a  case  rarely 
equalled ;  he  had  a  high  standard  of  professional  conduct, 
and  never  departed  from  it;  he  devoted  his  entire  life  to  the 
duties  of  the  profession  he  so  dearly  loved,  and  although  he 
has  died  comparatively  young,  few  men,  however  long  their 
lives,  have  performed  so  large  an  amount  of  labor  as  that 
performed  by  him.  He  was  a  most  lovable  man,  kind-hearted, 
generous,  and  true,  always  ready  with  kind  words  and  friendly 
aid ;  and  it  is  seldom,  indeed,  that  the  death  of  any  man 
causes  so  great  and  so  manifest  a  vacancy  in  the  department 
in  which  he  has  moved.  No  man  can  be  more  missed  than 
he  is  in  the  courts,  his  chosen  and  successful  field  of  effort. 
In  his  death  we  have  all  lost  a  personal  friend,  and  the  pro- 


86  STEPHEN  BRADSHAW  IVES. 

fession  one  of  its  most  useful  members,  one  of  its  brightest 
ornaments, — and  to  no  one  can  those  words  of  divine  eulogy 
be  more  appropriately  applied,  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Thompson's  remarks,  Charles 
A.  Benjamin,  Esq.,  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — I  desire  to  express,  as  I 
best  may,  my  sorrow  for  the  death  of  our  late  associate,  Mr. 
Stephen  B.  Ives,  not  only  as  he  was  the  head  and  ornament 
of  our  Bar  and  a  prominent  and  valued  citizen,  but  one  for 
whom  I  entertained  the  warmest  friendship.  Of  his  profes- 
sional services,  so  well  rendered  to  the  courts  and  his  clients, 
others  have  already  well  and  fitly  spoken,  and  I  can  add  little 
to  the  weight  of  their  words.  Possessed  of  the  highest  and 
best  attributes  of  the  advocate,  he  used  them  with  a  wonderful 
power,  skill,  and  effect ;  armed  and  equipped  at  all  points 
he  battled  stoutly  for  that  side  of  the  case  that  he  prosecuted 
or  defended,  and  presented  a  remarkable  example  of  a  man 
gifted  with  great  power  and  talents,  which  he  knew  well  how 
to  utilize,  and  over  which  he  had  full  command.  To  the 
younger  members  of  the  Bar  his  trials  of  causes  were  a  con- 
stant source  of  delight  and  admiration,  and  were  of  inesti- 
mable value  as  a  guide  and  inspiration  to  their  own  efforts 
in  that  direction,  while  his  generous  and  open  character  and 
kind  and  unassuming  manners  endeared  him  to  all. 

And  this  example  will  not  be  lost,  though  the  great  exem- 
plar has  gone.  One  of  the  saddest  things  connected  with 
the  death  of  some  men  is  that  they  are  forgotten ;  the  places 
and  the  men  that  knew  them  once  know  them  no  more,  nor 
remember  them.  Happy  then  is  that  man  who  has  done 
those  things  the  memory  of  which  shall  live  after  him  ;  who, 
like  our  deceased  friend,  has  left  a  record  to  which  men  shall 
turn  with  ever  increasing  pride  and  appreciation. 

It  was  my  painful  privilege  to  have  seen  Mr.  Ives  upon 
more  than  one  occasion  during  his  last  illness ;  and  I  see  him 
today,  not  only  as  he  stood  at  the  Bar  of  this  court-room  con- 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW  IVES.  87 

tending  with  living  opponents,  but  also  as  he  lay  upon  that 
bed  of  death,  fighting  the  last  insidious  foe ;  and  while  we, 
his  juniors,  may  well  desire  to  emulate  his  professional  career 
I  hope  it  may  be  given  to  all  here  to  meet  that  dread  ordeal 
with  the  cheerfulness,  serenity,  and  high  courage  with  which 
he  sustained  it. 

Mb.  Leverett  S.  Tuckerman,  spoke  as  follows  : — 

May  it  please  the  Court: — After  the  very  full  sketch 
of  Mr.  Ives  to  which  we  have  just  listened,  it  would  ill  be- 
come me  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  Court  at  any  considerable 
length  with  further  remarks  on  the  subject. 

I  am  prompted,  however,  by  personal  motives,  and  because 
I  know  that  in  so  doing  I  shall  represent,  in  a  measure,  the 
feelings  of  those  members  of  the  bar  who  are  of  about  my 
own  age  and  standing,  to  add  a  few  words  to  what  has  been 
said,  chiefly  with  reference  to  Mr.  Ives'  relations  to  his  jun- 
iors in  the  profession  during  the  later  years  of  his  life,  in  the 
course  of  active  practice  both  in  and  out  of  the  courts. 

From  a  purely  professional  point  of  view,  the  fact  which 
perhaps  strikes  us  most  forcibly  is  the  loss  of  the  most  famil- 
iar figure  and  voice  from  our  court-room  during  the  sessions 
of  the  courts.  Probably  in  no  county  of  the  Commonwealth 
has  there  been  of  recent  years  any  one  attorney  who  has  been 
retained,  and  actively  engaged,  in  so  large  a  proportion  of 
the  causes  on  the  dockets  of  the  higher  courts,  as  was  Mr. 
Ives  in  this  county.  On  the  opening  day  of  a  term  his  voice 
was  heard  in  answer  to  the  call  of  almost  every  cause  of  im- 
portance, and  of  a  large  proportion  of  those  of  less  magni- 
tude ;  while,  during  its  progress,  it  was  rarely  that  one  could 
visit  the  court-room  without  finding  him  present,  and  prob- 
ably actively  engaged  in  the  case  on  trial,  or,  if  not  that,  oc- 
cupied with  discussion  and  preparation  of  that  next  to  come 
on. 

His  voice,  as  well  as  his  court-room  manners,  if  I  may  use 
the  expression,  which  in  every  lawyer  tend  to  become  .mat- 
ters of  fixed  habit,  were  as  well  known  to  his  brethren  of 


88  STEPHEN    BRADSHA.W   IVES. 

the  Bar  as  they  became  impressed  on  all  in  attendance, — 
judge,  jurymen,  and  officers, — during  the  progress  of  a  term. 
His  quick,  nervous  movements,  his  ready  smile  when 
pleased,  his  almost  fierce  glance  and  frown  when  annoyed, 
his  keen  questions  in  examination,  his  emphatic  habits  of 
statement  and  gesture  in  argument, — all  these  are  as  readily 
recalled  as  if  heard  today,  or  delineated  in  a  portrait  on 
these  court-room  walls.  As  is  naturally  the  case  with  every 
leading  practitioner,  he  has  been  taken  as  a  model  for  more 
or  less  close  imitation  by  a  large  proportion  of  those  now  in 
practice  here;  and  for  this  reason  his  influence  will  be  felt 
in  this  county  long  after  the  causes  in  which  he  was  engaged 
have  been  forgotten. 

When  I  first  came  to  the  Bar,  nearly  twelve  years  ago,  it 
was  my  fortune  to  be  associated  with  lawyers  who  were  the 
contemporaries  and  the  frequent  antagonists  of  Mr.  Ives, 
and  for  that  reason  I  often  found  myself  in  opposition  to 
him.  It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  say  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, I  cannot  remember  ever  having  had  occasion  to  com- 
plain of  an  unkind  or  discourteous  word  or  act  from  him, 
even  in  the  heat  and  excitement  of  a  trial.  He  tried  his 
cases  for  all  that  they  were  worth,  and  he  never  gave  away 
an  advantage,  or  spared  a  comment  on  the  evidence  which 
he  thought  might  fairly  be  taken  or  made  in  behalf  of  his 
clients,  bat  he  always  abstained  from  intentionally  slighting 
or  wounding  the  feelings  of  an  opposing  counsel,  and  espec- 
ially of  a  junior.  In  his  readiness  to  oblige,  as  well  as  in  his 
high  sense  of  honor  and  scrupulous  fidelity  to  all  profession- 
al engagements,  he  set  an  example  worthy  of  all  imitation. 

Later  on  I  happened  to  be  more  often  associated  with  him, 
and  acted  as  his  junior  in  several  matters  of  some  impor- 
tance. Under  such  circumstances  he  was  found  to  be  inva- 
riably kind,  courteous,  and  considerate  of  the  opinions  of  an 
associate.  While  a  patient  listener  to  all  material  informa- 
tion concerning  the  case  in  hand,  his  wonderfully  quick 
apprehension  of  facts,  and  his  ready  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  law  involved,  rendered  it  possible  to  give  him  the 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW    IVES.  89 

necessary  instructions  in  a  very  brief  time.  His  retentive 
memory  served  to  carry  the  facts  from  the  time  of  instruction 
to  the  time  of  trial,  without  the  loss  of  details,  over  long 
intervals,  perhaps  of  months,  or  even  years  ;  while  at  the 
time  of  trial  one  could  not  help  feeling  confidence  in  his 
ability  to  overcome  almost  any  possible  obstacle. 

Of  the  high  degree  of  skill,  and  of  the  prominence  which 
Mr.  Ives  attained  in  all  departments  of  his  profession,  it  is 
needless  for  me  here  to  speak.  Even  if  they  cannot  be 
considered  matters  of  common  knowledge  in  this  county, 
and  almost  in  this  Commonwealth,  what  I  could  say  of  them 
would  add  nothing  to  the  impression  conveyed  by  the  appre- 
ciative sketch  which  we  have  already  heard. 

For  the  last  few  years  of  his  life,  I  think  I  can  claim  to 
have  been  favored  with  a  considerable  measure  of  his  personal 
friendship,  and  from  my  familiar  intercourse  with  him  could 
give  testimony,  if  any  were  needed,  to  the  very  high  degree 
of  culture  and  general  information  with  which  he  was 
armed,  in  matters  entirely  out  of  the  line  of  his  professional 
studies.  Add  to  that  his  affectionate  disposition  and  his 
kindly  and  genial  temper,  and  one  can  in  some  degree  imagine 
what  a  privilege  was  that  of  being  on  terms  of  friendship 
with  him,  and  can  realize  what  a  loss  has  been  suffered  by  his 
friends  beyond  that  which  all  his  professional  brethren  feel. 

What  natural  talents  each  may  have  are  born  within  him- 
self ;  the  use  which  each  shall  make  of  them,  it  is  within  his 
own  power  to  determine.  Any  one  of  us  may  well  be  proud 
if,  at  the  close  of  his  professional  career,  he  can,  in  looking 
back,  feel  that  he  has  made  as  good  use  of  his  own  talents 
as  Mr.  Ives  made  of  the  great  ones  which  were  given  him. 
The  lessons  of  his  life  are  chiefly  for  us,  his  juniors,  who  are 
left  to  carry  on  the  work ;  and  without  unavailing  regrets, 
let  us  be  thankful  for  and  endeavor  duly  to  profit  by  them. 

Chief  Justice  Morton  then  addressed  the  Bar  in  the  fol- 
lowing words : — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — The  death  of  a  man  so  prom- 


90  STEPHEN   BRADSHAW    IVES. 

inent  and  useful  as  our  Brother  Ives  cannot  but  be  deeply 
felt  by  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  It  is  a  special 
loss  to  the  courts  and  to  the  Bar  of  this  county,  with  which 
he  was  identified  for  so  many  years.  If  we  look  back  for  the 
last  thirty  years  we  find  very  few  terms  of  either  of  the  two 
principal  courts  of  the  Commonwealth  held  for  this  county, 
in  which  he  was  not  an  active  participant  in  the  business  and 
labors  of  the  terms. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  in  this  presence  I  should  speak  at 
length  of  his  ability  and  success.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  in  1851.  His  mind,  of  great  native  ability  and  acute- 
ness,  had  been  trained  not  only  by  a  successful  collegiate 
course,  but  by  a  useful  experience  as  a  teacher  for  a  few 
years,  and  he  attained  an  immediate  success  in  his  chosen 
profession.  His  growing  success  was  quickened  by  a  sub- 
stantial addition  to  his  practice,  when  his  teacher,  associate, 
and  friend,  the  late  Judge  Lord,  was  taken  from  his  position 
as  the  leader  of  this  Bar  to  a  seat  on  the  Bench.  That  dis- 
tinguished jurist  has  often  told  me  that  when  he  left  the 
Bar  such  was  his  confidence  in  the  ability  of  Mr.  Ives, 
though  he  was  then  a  young  man,  that  he  had  no  hesitation 
in  recommending  him  to  his  numerous  clients  as  a  suitable 
person  to  take  charge  of  their  varied  and  important  interests. 
You  all  know  how  well  this  confidence  was  justified  by  the 
result.  Mr.  Ives  soon  conquered  a  place  in  the  front  rank 
of  the  Essex  Bar,  a  position  of  which  any  lawyer  may  well 
be  proud ;  and  he  retained  it  to  the  day  of  his  death.  No 
man  could  reach  and  retain  such  a  position  unless  he  was 
endowed  with  great  qualities, — with  intellectual  strength, 
industry,  eloquence,  fidelity  to  his  duties,  and  honesty. 

It  always  seemed  to  me  that  one  of  the  chief  elements  of 
Mr.  Ives'  success  was  the  intense  earnestness  which  he  threw 
into  all  his  work.  He  was  an  enthusiast  in  his  profession. 
Early  and  late,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  he  devoted  him- 
self to  its  work,  admitting  no  rival  in  his  affections,  allowing 
no  external  interests  to  divert  his  mind  and  strength  from  its 
pursuit. 


STEPHEN   BRADSHAW   IVES.  91 

The  necessary  result  of  his  marked  ability,  his  extensive 
learning,  his  eloquent  command  of  language,  his  zeal  and 
earnestness,  was  that  he  was  a  successful  advocate  in  the 
trial  of  cases  before  a  jury,  surpassed  by  few,  if  any,  of  his 
contemporaries.  It  must  be  added  that,  notwithstanding  the 
zeal  and  intensity  which  he  threw  into  a  case,  he  was  always 
fair  and  candid.  Many  of  you,  brethren,  have  often  been 
obliged  to  meet  him  in  forensic  contests  ;  you  always  knew 
that  in  him  you  would  meet  a  worthy  antagonist,  armed  at 
all  points,  whose  attack  would  be  vigorous  and  impetuous  5 
but  you  never  needed  to  guard  against  anything  like  trickery 
and  chicanery,  for  you  knew  that  he  scorned  such  means  of 
success. 

The  same  characteristics  appeared  in  his  arguments  of 
questions  of  law.  He  was  thorough  and  exhaustive  in  his 
researches,  and  able  and  acute  in  his  analysis  of  cases.  He 
never  concealed  or  overlooked  decisions  which  bore  against 
his  views,  but  always  called  them  to  the  attention  of  the 
Court,  and  dealt  with  them  manfully  as  best  he  could.  Oc- 
casions frequently  arise  when  it  is  convenient  and  necessary 
for  the  Court  to  seek  the  advice  of  members  of  the  Bar  upon 
questions  of  practice  and  procedure.  Upon  such  occasions 
we  have  always  looked  to  Mr.  Ives  as  one  of  the  safest  of 
advisers,  well  knowing  that  he  would  observe  all  due  fidelity 
to  the  Court,  as  well  as  to  the  Bar  and  his  clients.  I  feel 
deeply  that  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Ives  the  Bar  has  lost  one  of 
its  ablest  and  most  useful  members,  and  the  Court  has  lost 
one  of  its  most  competent  and  faithful  assistants  in  its  great 
work  of  administering  justice. 

Impressed  with  the  truthfulness  of  the  portrait  which  you 
have  drawn  of  him  in  your  memorial, — knowing  that  your 
action  is  not  a  mere  form,  but  is  an  earnest  tribute  of  respect 
and  affection, — I  most  heartily  concur  in  the  sentiments  ex- 
pressed by  you,  and  in  accordance  with  your  request  shall 
order  that  your  memorial,  together  with  a  memorandum  of 
these  proceedings,  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 


ALFRED  A.  ABBOTT. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  October 
28,  1884,  Messrs.  William  C.  Endicott,  William  D.  North- 
end,  Daniel  Saunders  and  Charles  P.  Thompson,  were 
chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Mr.  Alfred 
A.  Abbott,  to  be  presented  to  the  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  held  at  Salem,  on  Monday,  Decem- 
ber 8th,  1884,  Cheep  Justice  Brigham,  and  Mr.  Justice 
Pitman  who  was  presiding,  on  the  Bench.  Mr.  Wil- 
liam D.  Northend,  President  of  the  Essex  Bar  Associa- 
tion and  member  of  its  Committee,  read  the  following 
memorial  : 

May  it  please  your  Honor  :  —Mr.  Alfred  Amos  Ab- 
bott, who  for  so  many  years  performed  in  the  most  exemplary 
manner  the  important  duties  of  Clerk  for  this  County  of  the 
two  highest  Courts  in  the  Commonwealth,  departed  this  life, 
after  a  brief  illness,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  October 
last. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  October 
28th,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  some  suitable 
expression  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Bar,  to  be  presented  to 
this  Court,  with  the  request  that  it  be  entered  upon  its  records 
as  a  lasting  tribute  to  the  services  and  virtues  of  our  de- 
ceased brother ;  and  the  Committee  respectfully  presents  the 
following  memorial. 

Mr.  Abbott  was  born  in  Andover,  in  this  county,  May  30th, 
1820.  He  was  a  son  of  Hon.  Amos  Abbott,  who  represented 
the  Essex  North  Congressional  District  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  from  1843  to  1849. 
He  received  his  early  education  at  Phillips  Andover  Acad- 
emy, and  entered  Yale  College  in  1837.  At  the  end  of  his 
Junior  year  he  left   Yale   for   Union   College,  from  which 


ALFRED  A.   ABBOTT.  93 

institution  he  was  graduated  in  1841.  Immediately  upon 
his  graduation  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  in  the 
Dane  Law  School,  from  which,  in  January,  1843,  he  received 
the  degree  of  LL.  B. 

From  that  time  until  his  admission  to  the  Bar  in  1844,  he 
studied  in  the  office  of  the  late  Judge  Joshua  H.  Ward. 
Soon  after  his  admission,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the 
law  in  the  part  of  Danvers  now  Peabody,  where  he  resided 
until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  represented  the  town  of 
Danvers  in  the  Legislature  of  the  Commonwealth  in  1850 
and  1852,  and  the  County  of  Essex  in  the  Senate  in  1853. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  appointed  Dis- 
trict Attorney  for  the  Eastern  District,  which  comprised 
Essex  County.  He  held  the  office  of  District  Attorney  until 
January,  1869.  He  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Courts  for 
this  county,  September  27th,  1870,  upon  the  death  of  Mr. 
Huntington,  and  was  the  same  year  elected  for  the  unexpired 
portion  of  the  term,  and  was  afterwards  twice  re-elected  to 
the  office,  in  which  he  remained  until  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  also  held  important  offices  in  his  adopted  town,  and  was 
an  active  member  of  several  associations.  In  his  nearly  ten 
years  of  general  practice  before  his  appointment  to  the  office 
of  District  Attorney,  Mr.  Abbott  had  secured  a  large  client- 
age, and  had  tried  many  important  cases  in  the  higher  Courts. 
In  this  time  he  had  developed  such  ability  and  aptness  in  the 
Courts,  that  his  friends  indulged  in  the  highest  hopes  of  his 
future  success  and  eminence  in  his  chosen  profession.  But 
the  duties  of  the  office  of  District  Attorney,  after  his  appoint- 
ment, occupied  a  large  portion  of  his  time,  which  interfered 
seriously  with  his  practice  in  the  civil  Courts.  But  in  the 
time  that  intervened  between  the  close  of  his  duties  as  Dis- 
trict Attorney  and  his  appointment  of  Clerk  of  the  Courts, 
his  general  practice  was  large.  Bat  this  was  terminated  on 
his  appointment  to  the  clerkship.  Consequently  Mr.  Abbott's 
professional  reputation  was  earned  largely  in  his  performance 
of  the  duties  of  the  two  important  offices  connected  with  the 


94  ALFRED   A.    ABBOTT. 

profession  which  he  held  for  such  long  periods  of  his  profes- 
sional life.  But  in  the  performance  of  these  duties  he  af- 
forded abundant  evidence  of  his  high  qualities  and  character 
as  a  lawyer. 

No  man  at  the  Bar  had  formed  for  himself  a  higher  ideal  of 
what  the  conduct  of  a  lawyer  should  be,  or  cherished  a  greater 
respect  and  reverence  for  the  profession  than  did  Mr.  Abbott. 
He  was  sensitive  of  its  honor,  and  during  the  entire  period  of 
his  professional  life  no  one  was  more  scrupulous  than  he  in 
conforming  his  practice  and  conduct  to  the  ideal  he  had 
formed,  and  no  one  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  his 
profession  afforded  a  better  example  to  the  younger  members 
of  the  Bar.  He  had  a  remarkable  presence.  Possessed  of  a 
fine  physique  and  courteous  manners,  he  attracted  to  him,  and 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  who  sought  his  advice  or  who 
had  business  to  transact  in  connection  with  the  offices  he  held. 
His  great  aim  was  to  do  everything  well ;  and  upon  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  offices  he  held,  he  devoted  himself  with 
scrupulous  and  conscientious  care  to  a  full  understanding  and 
thorough  performance  of  the  duties  they  required.  After  his 
appointment  to  the  office  of  District  Attorney,  he  studied 
carefully  and  exhaustively  the  criminal  law  and  became  mas- 
ter of  it.  His  indictments  were  accurately  drawn  and  his  cases 
fully  prepared.  In  the  trial  of  cases,  he  exhibited  great 
power.  His  cross-examinations  of  witnesses,  though  seldom 
long,  were  very  thorough  and  effective.  His  addresses  to 
juries  were  strong,  logical  and  eloquent.  He  was  always 
ready  to  discuss  questions  of  law  that  were  raised  on  a  trial, 
and  was  familiar  with  all  the  decisions,  to  which  he  could 
refer  without  delay.  By  the  Bar,  until  the  time  of  his  death, 
he  was  considered  as  authority  on  all  questions  of  criminal 
pleadings  and  practice.  But  thorough  and  efficient  as  he  was 
in  the  trial  of  criminal  cases,  he  performed,  as  satisfactorily, 
the  other  and  not  less  important  duties  of  the  office.  He 
exercised  great  judgment  and  wise  discrimination  in  the 
commencement  and  prosecution  of  proceedings  against  alleged 
offenders.     His  aim  was  to  do  nothing  more  and  nothing  less 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  95 

than  the  cause  of  justice  required,  and  never,  to  seem  even, 
to  press  prosecutions  for  the  purpose  of  achieving  personal 
triumph.  Those  familiar  with  criminal  proceedings  in  our 
courts  will  understand  the  responsibility  imposed  upon,  and 
judicious  care  required  of  a  prosecuting  attorney,  as  in  many 
classes  of  cases  the  grand  jury  cannot  be  expected  to  under- 
stand fully  all  the  niceties  of  the  law,  and  must  depend  largely 
upon  the  advice  of  the  prosecuting  attorney.  Besides,  there 
are  often  over  zealous  officers  and  vindictive  prosecutors,  who 
urge  the  finding  of  indictments  upon  doubtful  or  insufficient 
evidence,  and  on  the  other  hand,  friends  of  the  accused,  who 
plead  for  immunity  or  leniency.  These  require,  in  a  prose- 
cuting officer,  courage,  firmness,  impartiality,  and  sound  dis- 
cretion. These  qualities  Mr.  Abbott  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  stronger  evidence  than  the 
fact  that,  during  the  long  period  he  performed  the  duties  of 
his  office  as  prosecuting  attorney,  he  had  the  entire  confidence 
of  the  Courts,  the  Bar,  and  the  people  of  the  county. 

The  manner  in  which  he  performed  the  duties  of  the  office 
of  Clerk  of  the  Courts  is  known  to  every  member  of  the  Bar. 
He  acquired  a  thorough  and  familiar  knowledge  of  practice 
in  all  the  civil,  equity,  and  criminal  Courts,  and  great  facili- 
ty in  applying  this  knowledge.  Such  was  the  confidence  of 
the  Court  and  the  Bar  in  Mr.  Abbott's  familiarity  with  all  the 
rules  of  practice,  that  very  much  was  referred  to  him  with- 
out instruction  or  discussion.  The  arrangement  of  the  docket 
and  trial  lists  was  largely  entrusted  to  him  by  the  Court.  He 
sought  information  of  the  different  cases  on  the  docket,  so 
that  he  was  able  from  day  to  day  to  prepare  trial  lists  of  cases, 
always  sufficient  for  the  employment  of  the  Court,  yet  not  so 
large  as  to  require  parties  to  be  in  attendance  an  unnecessary 
length  of  time  awaiting  trial.  He  was  faithful  to  the  Court, 
and  considerate  to  the  bar  and  parties  to  suits. 

In  a  letter  to  a  committee  of  the  legislature  which  was  con- 
sidering the  subject  of  the  salaries  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Courts 
throughout  the  Commonwealth,  in  1879,  Mr.  Abbott  stated 
the  proper  qualifications  for  the  office  in  the  following  words : 


96  ALFRED  A.   ABBOTT. 

"  May  I  not  now  say  to  the  committee  that  no  man  is  fit  for 
the  places  we  occupy  who  is  not  at  least  a  respectable  lawyer? 
I  will  venture  to  add  that  no  man  can  discharge  their  func- 
tions according  to  the  full  measure  of  their  usefulness  who  is 
not  something  more  and  better  than  this ;  who  to  a  sufficient 
degree  of  clerical  accomplishments,  an  experimental  knowl- 
edge of  wide  and  varied  practice,  and  a  familiarity  with  the 
routine  of  business  in  the  different  courts,  does  not  add  apt- 
ness, facility,  promptness  and  method,  critical  accuracy  and 
generous  culture,  patience  and  good  temper,  with  firmness 
and  decision,  and  withal  that  affability  of  manners,  courteous- 
ness  of  address,  and  dignity  of  presence  and  demeanor,  which 
can  do  so  much  toward  securing  respect  for  judicial  proceed- 
ings.'' 

No  words  can  better  or  more  happily  portray  the  qualities 
and  accomplishments  possessed  by  Mr.  Abbott.  He  was  the 
model  Clerk  of  Courts  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  may  have 
had  his  peer,  but  never  his  superior,  in  that  office. 

But  Mr.  Abbott  was  something  more  than  a  lawyer  or 
Clerk  of  the  Courts.  He  was  a  man  of  broad  culture  and 
large  knowledge  and  experience  outside  his  profession.  He 
read  the  best  books  and  was  a  thorough  student  of  English 
literature.  His  occasional  public  addresses  were  models  of 
excellence.  His  style  was  elegant  and  graceful  and  his  lan- 
guage most  felicitous.  He  had  the  faculty  of  expressing  his 
thoughts  in  the  clearest  and  most  eloquent  manner,  without 
any  seeming  extravagance  or  redundancy.  He  had  a  very 
sympathetic  nature,  his  delivery  was  very  forcible  and  im- 
pressive, and  as  an  orator  he  had  no  equal  in  the  county  since 
the  days  of  Rufus  Choate.  If  he  had  sought  distinction  in 
the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  there  was  no  place  at 
the  Bar  or  on  the  bench  to  which  he  could  not  have  justly  as- 
pired ;  or  if  he  had  cherished  political  ambition,  he  had  the 
qualities  which  would  have  insured  him  a  high  position  and 
reputation  as  a  statesman.  But  Mr.  Abbott's  tastes  led  him 
to  prefer  a  more  quiet  and  peaceful  life.  He  was  happy  in 
his  occupations,  and  felt  greater  satisfaction  with  the  results 


ALFEED   A.   ABBOTT.  97 

of  his  varied  usefulness  in  the  life  he  led,  than  he  would  have 
at  the  applause,  which  the  honors  and  positions  he  well  knew 
were  within  his  reach,  could  have  given. 

To  the  interests  of  the  town  of  his  adoption,  Mr.  Abbott 
gave  his  best  thoughts  and  efforts.  For  forty  years  his  in- 
fluence was  felt  in  all  the  important  affairs  of  the  place.  He 
took  an  active  part  in  the  town  meetings,  and  his  fellow  citi- 
zens appreciated  his  controlling  wisdom  and  prudence  on  the 
various  important  and  difficult  subjects  the  town  was  called 
upon,  in  that  time  to  deal  with.  He  was  actively  connected 
with  the  Peabody  Institute  from  the  time  of  its  foundation 
until  his  death,  and  for  many  years  was  President  of  its 
board  of  trustees.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  its  success  and 
watched  its  growth  with  sedulous  care.  He  remembered  al- 
ways that  it  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  posterity  as  well 
as  for  the  present  generation,  and  he  was  very  conservative 
in  his  views  regarding  the  use  of  its  income.  To  his  influ- 
ence the  present  financial  standing  and  prosperity  of  the 
institution  are  largely  due. 

In  social  life,  Mr.  Abbott  was  one  of  the  most  genial  of 
men.  His  mind  was  stored  with  information,  and  in  the 
company  of  his  friends  no  one  was  listened  to  with  more  at- 
tention or  pleasure.  His  friendships  were  strong  and  endur- 
ing. By  his  kindness  and  words  of  encouragement  he  en- 
deared himself  to  all,  and  especially  to  the  younger  members 
of  the  Bar. 

There  is  a  delicacy  in  invading  the  sanctity  of  home  life. 
It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  he  was  a  dutiful  son,  a  loving 
husband,  and  a  tender  and  affectionate  father.  It  is  difficult 
to  appreciate  his  loss  to  his  family  circle,  of  which  he  was 
the  light  and  the  joy. 

Our  friend  and  brother,  in  the  autumn  of  his  years,  with 
the  falling  of  the  leaves  and  the  fading  of  the  flowers,  passed 
peacefully  to  his  rest.  Neither  age  nor  disease  had  impaired 
his  faculties  or  dimmed  his  eye.  We  remember  him  only  as 
the  strong  man.  It  was  at  the  last  April  term  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court  that  he,  in  the  full  tide  of  life  and 


98  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

vigor,  pronounced  those  beautiful  eulogies  upon  our  departed 
brothers,  Lord  and  Ives.  It  is  but  a  few  weeks  since  he 
sat  at  this  desk,  apparently  in  the  enjoyment  of  robust  health. 
Indeed,  "  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death." 

May  it  please  your  Honor,  I  now  move  in  behalf  of  the 
Essex  Bar  Association,  that  this  memorial  be  placed  upon 
the  records  of  this  Court. 

Mr.  Daniel  Saunders  then  spoke  as  follows : — 

Mr.  Abbott  and  I  were  born  in  the  same  town,  studied 
in  the  same  schools.  He  was  a  playmate  of  mine  in  boyhood, 
a  companion  in  youth,  and  a  warm  and  intimate  friend  dur- 
ing life.  My  life  long  knowledge  of  his  worth  and  ability 
corroborates  all  that  has  been  so  justly  and  aptly  said  of  him 
in  the  memorial  just  read.  I  do  not  rise  to  add  to  what  has 
been  so  well  said,  but  simply  in  a  few  words  to  give  expres- 
sion to  the  esteem  and  affection  which  I  have  always  enter- 
tained for  him. 

When  a  few  months  since,  our  brother  Abbott  rose  in  this 
Bar,  and  with  voice  modulated  by  the  deep  feelings  of  his 
heart,  read,  with  so  much  pathos,  the  eloquent  tribute  pre- 
pared by  him  to  the  memory  of  our  departed  brothers,  Judge 
Lord  and  Mr.  Ives,  we  felt  that  we  had  still  left  amongst  us, 
one  upon  whose  shoulders  the  mantle  of  our  great  departed 
leaders  would  not  hang  loosely ;  that  we  had  one  still  left 
who  could  uphold  the  prestige,  the  dignity  and  honor  of  our 
profession,  with  a  grace,  power  and  eloquence,  equal  to  that 
of  any  of  the  great  men  whose  names  had  been  so  conspicu- 
ous in  the  past  history  of  Essex  County.  None  of  us  who 
then  listened  to  his  eloquent  words  and  looked  upon  his 
manly  form,  dreamed  that  so  soon  would  he  leave  us  for  the 
company  of  those  whose  lives  and  characters  he  had  so 
faithfully  and  justly  portrayed  in  the  memorial,  and  which  he 
so  feelingly  read. 

We  hoped  that  many  years  of  useful  life  were  before  him ; 
but  his  work  was  nearly  done.  The  finished  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  those  from  whom  he  had  received,  and  to  whom 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  99 

he  had  given  so  much  of  professional  and  personal  love  and 
esteem,  was  a  fitting  end  of  the  labors  which  made  his  life 
so  dear  to  his  friends. 

Mr.  Abbott  in  his  boyhood  was  frank  and  open  hearted, 
and  a  general  favorite  with  his  companions.  He  was  fond 
of  the  sports  of  boys,  in  which  he  took  an  active  part,  never, 
however,  neglecting  the  duties  of  study  for  the  pleasures  of 
play.  He  was  prompt  at  recitation  and  seldom  unprepared. 
He  was  noted  for  the  correctness  of  his  translations  of  Latin 
and  Greek,  which  he  rendered  into  English  in  language  al- 
most as  classical  as  the  original.  His  early  study  to  express 
his  idea  in  fitting  words,  laid  the  foundation  of  his  future 
great  command  of  language. 

When  practising  at  the  Bar,  he  was  a  safe  counsellor  and 
a  brilliant  advocate.  His  modesty,  often  the  companion  of 
great  ability,  led  him  to  distrust  the  strength  of  his  natural 
powers,  and  to  prefer  the  routine  of  office  work,  rather  than 
the  strife  and  struggle  of  jury  trial  in  civil  cases.  If  there 
were  at  the  Bar  those  with  more  exact  technical  knowledge 
in  the  science  of  law,  if  some  more  familiar  in  case  and 
authority,  yet  no  one  was  more  familiar  than  he  in  the 
knowledge  and  practice  of  those  broad  principles  which  have 
made  law  the  hand-maiden  and  servant  of  justice.  No  one 
surpassed  him  in  power  and  eloquence  before  a  jury,  when 
the  case  and  the  occasion  called  out  the  full  measure  of  his 
ability.  Few  men  could  touch  the  sympathies  of  a  jury  with 
a  more  delicate  hand,  or  hold  their  attention  more  closely 
than  he.  When  feeling  strong  in  the  justice  of  his  cause,  no 
one  was  more  impressive,  and  no  one  had  greater  power  in 
satisfying  a  jury  with  the  honesty  of  his  convictions. 

He  was  familiar  with  the  best  authors,  ancient  and  modern, 
and  had  stored  his  mind  with  the  thoughts  of  the  best  writ- 
ers, to  an  extent  that  made  him  not  only  apt  at  quotation, 
but  an  authority  in  literary  matters.  Of  his  social  qualities 
it  need  only  be  said  he  was  best  appreciated  by  those  who 
knew  him  most  intimately.  Of  his  services  as  District 
Attorney  of  this  district,  of  his  fair  mindedness,  of  his  integ- 


100  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

rity,  of  his  high  sense  of  honor  and  responsibility  in  office,  of 
his  able  administration  of  the  duties  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Courts 
of  this  county,  I  need  say  nothing.  They  have  been  faith- 
fully set  forth  in  the  memorial,  "  a  fitting  eulogy  to  worth," 
just  read,  and  to  which  little  can  be  added.  Even  if  nothing 
had  been  said,  the  ability,  faithfulness  and  devotion  to  duty 
which  he  displayed  in  these  offices  have  been  patent  to  all 
who  had  occasion  to  be  present  or  to  practice  in  our  Courts. 

If  he  had  remained  at  the  Bar,  his  name  would  have  been 
identified  with  the  most  important  cases  which  required  elo- 
quence and  ability  in  the  presentation  of  their  merits  to  a 
jury. 

One  of  the  leading  traits  of  Mr.  Abbott's  character,  and 
one  which  more  than  any  other  contributed  to  his  success, 
more  than  his  innate  ability,  was  the  honest  purpose  and  in- 
defatigable labor  which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  any  matters 
he  had  in  hand.  While  many  supposed  his  brilliant  produc- 
tions, as  shown  in  his  addresses  upon  public  occasions,  were 
the  facile  flow  of  a  ready  pen  guided  without  much  mental 
effort,  yet  those  who  knew  him  most  intimately,  knew  that 
these  products,  so  strong  and  finished  in  all  their  parts,  were 
the  result  of  labored  thought  and  hard  conscientious  work. 

The  talents  which  God  had  given  him  had  been  improved 
with  constant  care,  and  added  to  from  time  to  time  by  honest 
and  faithful  use  ;  and  who  shall  question  that  death  was  but 
the  messenger  to  call  him  to  new  fields  of  usefulness  into 
which  he  has  entered  with  the  welcome  salutation  of  the 
Supreme  Judge  and  Ruler  of  all  things — "  Well  done  thou 
good  and  faithful  Servant." 

In  behalf  of  the  Bar,  I  second  the  motion  made  by  Mr. 
Northend. 

Mr.  Charles  P.  Thompson  then  addressed  the   Court  as 
follows  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — I  desire  to  add  a  word 
to  the  expressions  of  appreciation  and  regard  already  pro- 
nounced for  the  character  of  our  deceased  brother.     When  I 


ALFRED  A.   ABBOTT.  101 

came  to  this  Bar  in  1857,  Mr.  Abbott  held  a  position  of 
marked  and  acknowledged  prominence  as  an  accomplished 
lawyer  and  an  able  and  efficient  District  Attorney,  and  it  was 
soon  my  fortune  to  witness  and  feel  his  power  in  a  trial  oc- 
cupying twelve  days,  which  he  closed  with  an  argument  of 
six  hours,  remarkable  for  its  logic  and  eloquence,  which 
largely  increased  his  growing  reputation.  He  was  always 
found  fully  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  the  more  difficult 
and  intricate  the  case,  the  more  conspicuous  were  his  rare 
accomplishments.  He  had  a  memory  which  did  not  permit 
any  fact  to  escape,  a  clear  perception  of  the  true  application 
and  just  weight  of  the  evidence,  and  a  facility  of  arrange- 
ment, which  made  every  circumstance  tell  most  forcibly  to 
sustain  his  theory,  combined  with  a  power  of  expression,  a 
manifest  sincerity,  and  a  confidence  in  his  positions,  that  made 
him  a  most  formidable  opponent,  and  a  most  successful  prose- 
cuting officer. 

His  integrity  of  purpose,  sound  and  discriminating  judg- 
ment in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  cannot  be  too  highly 
praised.  His  office  of  District  Attorney  brought  him  into  a 
favorable  acquaintance  with  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the 
county,  and  his  services  were  frequently  sought  in  civil  cases 
of  importance. 

The  duties  of  District  Attorney  occupied  so  much  of  his 
attention  that  his  civil  practice  was  not  so  large  as  that  of 
some  other  members  of  the  Bar,  still,  the  number  and  impor- 
tance of  his  cases  were  such  as  to  make  for  him  an  honorable 
and  profitable  civil  practice.  He  brought  to  the  management 
of  these  cases  the  same  aptness  for  investigation,  sound  judg- 
ment in  selecting  the  course  to  pursue,  and  ability  in  pre- 
senting his  case  to  the  Court  and  Jury  that  were  so  conspicu- 
ous in  his  trial  of  criminal  cases,  and  he  justly  held  a  high 
rank  as  a  civil  as  well  as  a  criminal  lawyer. 

The  ability  and  fidelity  with  which  he  performed  the  deli- 
cate and  responsible  duties  of  Clerk  of  the  highest  Courts  of 
the  Commonwealth  have  been  fully  recognized  by  the  Courts, 
the  Bar  and  the  people.     Towards  the  members  of  the  Bar 


102  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

he  ever  manifested  the  kindest  consideration  and  the  most 
accommodating  spirit,  and  in  their  efforts  and  success  he  al- 
ways took  an  active  interest. 

He  had  a  high  standard  of  professional  duty,  and  to  such 
a  standard  he  endeavored  by  precept  and  example  to  bring 
the  conduct  of  the  Bar.  He  has  been  for  more  than  a  gen- 
eration a  highly  honored  and  valuable  public  servant,  with 
the  constantly  increasing  esteem  and  confidence  of  all,  and 
his  memory  is  justly  entitled  to  our  veneration. 

As  a  private  citizen,  he  was  no  less  useful  and  honored 
than  as  a  public  officer.  We  all  know  how  justly  proud  of 
him  is  the  town  of  Peabody,  in  which  he  commenced  prac- 
tice, and  in  which  he  resided  from  his  entrance  into  public 
life  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  and  how  alive  he  was  to  every 
matter  affecting  her  honor  or  her  interests. 

Those  who  attended  his  burial  service  learned  how  en- 
deared he  was  to  his  pastor  and  the  members  of  the  Society 
with  whom  he  worshipped,  and  how  great  a  loss  they  have 
sustained  in  the  death  of  their  distinguished  patron  and 
friend.  Mr.  Abbott  had  a  most  sacred  regard  for  the  Bible, 
the  church  and  its  ordinances,  and  no  one  was  more  pained 
than  he  at  anything  like  irreverence  for  them.  He  regarded 
our  Christian  civilization  as  the  hope  of  the  world,  and  be- 
lieved it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  friend  of  humanity  to  aid  in 
its  illustration  and  development. 

He  was  a  man  of  generous  culture,  and  rare  attainments. 
When  we  last  saw  him  in  Court,  but  a  few  days  before  his 
death,  he  was  a  model  of  manly  power,  health  and  vigor. 
Who  of  us  then  for  a  moment  dreamed  that  we  should  never 
again  behold  his  dignified,  kind  and  friendly  presence  in  this 
temple  of  justice  ? 

Although  called  from  earth  before  he  had  reached  the 
allotted  age  of  man,  yet  he  lived  long  enough  to  perform  the 
full  measure  of  work  of  a  true  and  noble  man,  and  to  dis- 
charge all  the  duties  growing  out  of  the  relations  he  sustained 
to  his  fellow-men  in  a  manner  most  satisfactory  to  all. 

He  earned  an  honored  name  based  upon  real  merit,  and 


ALFRED   A.    ABBOTT.  103 

possessed  noble  virtues  which  endeared  him  to  all  who  knew 
him.  We  cannot  mourn  for  him.  The  promise  that  it  shall 
be  well  with  the  righteous  gives  us  the  fullest  assurance  that 
it  is  well  with  him,  that  everlasting  life  is  his. 

He     was    followed    by    Mr.  Henry  F.  Hurlburt,  who 
said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — Words  are  inadequate 
to  express  my  feelings  for  the  loss  of  our  friend  and  brother. 
When  I  came  to  the  Bar,  Mr.  Abbott  had  ceased  to  be  Dis- 
trict Attorney  for  this  County,  but  the  ability  with  which  he 
filled  that  office  was  so  great  that  no  one  to  this  day  can  speak 
of  that  office,  without  the  mind  associating  him  with  it.  But 
I  desire  to  speak  of  Mr.  Abbott  from  the  time  I  first  knew 
him,  then  occupying  the  office  of  Clerk  of  this  Court. 

The  most  important  period  of  a  young  lawyer's  practice  is 
the  beginning.  He  is  assailed  with  doubts  and  fears,  lest  he 
may  commit  some  mistake  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  his 
clients ;  he  may  know  what  is  necessary  to  do,  but  the  great 
question  is,  how  to  do  it.  In  such  a  case,  he  seeks  some  kind 
friend,  upon  whom  he  can  rely,  to  advise  him,  and  he  has 
always  found  such  a  friend  in  Mr.  Abbott. 

His  advice  and  assistance  were  always  kindly  given,  and 
always  relied  upon.  He  always  took  a  great  interest  in  the 
young  men  of  this  Bar ;  he  was  their  friend  and  counsellor, 
and,  also,  their  kindest  critic  ;  he  would  often,  in  the  kindest 
terms  and  manner,  talk  with  them,  criticising  some  mistakes, 
and  correcting  some  error  of  judgment.  He  seemed  anxious 
to  aid  them  in  arriving  at  perfection  in  their  chosen  profes- 
sion, and  perfection  was  his  only  standard.  Not  only  was 
he  their  kind  friend  and  adviser,  but  their  counsellor  ;  often 
when  cast  down  by  defeat  in  some  case  that  the  young  prac- 
titioner had  bent  his  hopes  and  energy  upon,  and,  perhaps, 
feeling  that  the  cause  of  his  defeat  was  on  account  of  some 
lack  of  judgment  or  ability  on  his  part,  then  would  Mr.  Ab- 
bott, calmly  and  kindly,  go  over  the  cause  with  him,  and,  with 
keen  mind  and  masterly  ability,  analyze  the  whole  case,  ex- 


104  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

posing  to  the  young  lawyer  the  defects  of  his  cause,  showing 
him  that  the  fault  was  not  with  the  lawyer,  but  with  the 
cause.  Often  has  he  done  this,  and  no  young  lawyer  who 
received  the  benefit  of  this  analysis,  ever  left  his  presence 
without  renewed  energy  and  hope. 

He  would  speak  in  praise  when  praise  was  due,  and  kindly 
criticise  where  criticism  was  needed.  Such  was  Mr.  Abbott 
to  the  young  lawyer ;  such  he  was  to  me.  His  loss  is  to  us, 
a  great  one,  and  his  memory  will  always  be  cherished  by  me 
for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  I  have  received  from  him. 

Mr.  William  H.  Moody  then  said  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — No  eulogy  of  our  friend 
and  brother  can  be  complete,  no  estimate  of  his  character,  and 
of  the  influence  which  he  has  exerted  upon  the  Bar  of  this 
County,  and  thereby  indirectly  upon  the  community,*  can  be 
at  all  adequate,  which  does  not  mark  and  measure  the  char- 
acter of  his  relations  to  his  younger  brethren.  And  I  can 
imagine  that  this  occasion  would  be  to  him  of  lessened  signifi- 
cance, were  an  opportunity  not  given  to  that  portion  of  the 
Bar,  to  express  their  remembrance  of  his  unfailing  kindness 
toward  them — their  sense  of  an  enduring  obligation  to  cherish 
his  memory. 

Your  Honor  will  hardly  realize  how  many  members  of  the 
profession  knew  Mr.  Abbott  only  in  the  performance  of  the 
duties  of  Clerk  of  the  Courts,  so  swift  is  the  flight  of  time, 
and  so  brief  the  span  of  the  lawyer's  usefulness.  With  those 
his  reputation  as  a  lawyer  must  rest  largely  upon  tradition 
and  inference. 

But  in  the  position  in  which  he  spent  the  last  fourteen 
years  of  his  life,  we  all  knew  him.  His  manner  of  adminis- 
tering the  oath  of  our  office  developed  and  emphasized  its 
full  meaning  and  beauty,  and  he  who  entered  into  the  office 
of  an  attorney  and  counsellor  within  the  courts,  under  the 
sanction  of  the  oath  thus  administered,  could  not  fail  to 
realize  that  he  had  begun  the  performance  of  grave  duties, 
with  high  and  weighty  responsibilities. 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  105 

Mr.  Abbott  loved  the  law  in  action.  The  cause  was  barren 
indeed  which  did  not  excite  his  interest,  and  the  advocate 
ill  equipped  who  could  not  secure  his  attention  to  its  con- 
duct. Frequently  the  Bar  sought  his  advice  and  welcomed 
his  criticism,  and  they  were  freely  given,  not  through  favor 
to  the  parties  or  their  counsel,  but  impersonally,  through 
love  of  good  fighting,  and  a  desire  that  all  controversies 
should  be  fully  and  fairly  tried,  according  to  the  law  and 
evidence. 

The  sound  advice,  wholesome  criticism,  and  measured  praise 
when  praise  was  due,  of  one  so  "skilful  in  precedents,  wary 
in  proceeding  and  understanding  in  the  business  of  the 
Court,"  helpful  to  all,  was  of  inestimable  value  to  the  young 
lawyer  in  the  first  years  of  his  practice.  It  encouraged  his 
efforts,  yet  tempered  his  zeal ;  it  stimulated  his  confidence, 
and,  in  the  same  degree,  increased  his  carefulness.  Upon  all 
questions  of  professional  ethics,  in  those  delicate  situations 
where  duty  to  the  client  seemed  to  make  against  courtesy  to 
the  Bar,  or  fidelity  to  the  Court,  Mr.  Abbott  has  been  for 
our  inexperience  the  invariable  arbiter,  and  his  decision  the 
final  authority. 

In  view  of  what  he  has  been  to  those  upon  whom  in  turn 
heavier  burdens  will  fall,  and  who  must  soon  serve  as  exem- 
plars to  the  generation  pressing  upon  us,  may  we  not,  your 
Honor,  indulge  in  the  hope  that  the  influence  of  the  life 
which  has  ended  may  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  bear 
precious  fruit  to  the  community  in  which  he  was  born,  has 
lived,  worked  and  died. 

Mr.  Henry  Ward  well  then  spoke  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — How  admirably  and 
amply  Mr.  Abbott  filled  the  important  and  honorable  offices 
in  the  Courts,  which  he  held  so  long,  all  know.  In  his  case, 
clearly,  the  man  dignified  and  magnified  the  office,  not  the 
office  the  man.  To  some  of  us,  his  career  as  District  Attor- 
ney is  not  a  matter  of  personal  recollection.  But  he  then 
became  so  widely  known,  and  the  impression  that  he  made 


106  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

on  the  people  of  this  county  was  so  deep  and  lasting,  that 
the  unvarying  popular  judgment  in  regard  to  it  must  be 
familiar  to  every  one. 

To  all  the  duties  of  the  office  he  brought  excellent  qualifi- 
cations :  learning,  good  sense,  tact,  industry  and  affability. 
But  before  the  juries  he  was  always  a  power.  For  an  advo- 
cate he  had  admirable  qualities,  both  of  body  and  mind.  He 
had  a  strong  and  pleasant  voice,  a  dignified  and  always 
courteous  manner,  and  a  fine  presence.  He  was  clear  and 
strong  in  statement,  and  clothed  his  thoughts  in  language  at 
once  beautiful  and  vigorous.  He  was  shrewd  and  adroit. 
He  was  at  home  in  dealing  with  all  kinds  of  men,  and  knew 
how  to  approach  them,  what  motives  were  likely  to  influence 
them,  and  how  best  to  reach  their  minds  and  sympathies.  He 
was  noted  for  his  politeness  in  the  treatment  of  opposing 
witnesses,  and  for  great  fairness  in  the  trial  and  argument  of 
cases.  As  he  came  to  the  argument  he  had  already,  by  the 
attractiveness  of  his  voice  and  presence,  and  by  his  manner 
and  bearing,  won  the  good  will  and  sympathy  of  the  jury, 
and  they  were  often  more  than  ready  to  be  influenced  and 
convinced  by  his  earnest  and  persuasive  speech. 

A  brief  period  of  very  successful  general  practice  at  the 
Bar  intervened,  and  he  entered  on  the  office  of  Clerk  of 
Courts,  attracted  by  the  comparative  quiet  of  the  office  and 
its  freedom  from  the  care  and  anxiety  concerning  his  cases, 
from  which  he  found  it  almost  impossible,  in  practice,  to  re- 
lieve his  mind.  In  what  manner  he  filled  this  office  is  fresh 
in  our  minds.  For  all  its  duties  he  was  more  than  abundantly 
capable  and  equipped.  The  Courts  and  the  public  were 
fortunate  that  he  was  content  to  serve  them.  By  his  well 
established  reputation  and  character,  his  dignified  and  im- 
pressive manner,  and  his  whole  bearing  and  conduct  in 
office,  he  added  to  the  dignity  of  the  Courts  and  increased 
the  respect  with  which  they  are  regarded. 

In  these  offices,  and  the  others  to  which  he  was  chosen  by 
the  people  of  his  town  and  county,  so  far  from  being  the 
object  of  adverse  criticism,  he  had  the  great  good  fortune  to 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  107 

have  it  continually  thought  and  said  that  there  was  no  office 
within  the  gift  of  the  people  that  he  could  not  worthily 
and  honorably  fill,  or  that  he  could  not  have,  if  he  were 
willing  to  seek  or  accept  it.  In  the  field  of  national 
politics,  if  he  had  chosen  to  enter  it,  his  knowledge  of  men, 
his  sagacity  and  address  in  dealing  with  them,  his  fine  per- 
sonal presence,  his  learning,  his  literary  taste  and  culture,  and 
his  eloquent  and  persuasive  speech,  would  have  assured  him 
great  success. 

These  things,  as  I  have  said,  are  known  to  all.  There  is 
another  part  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Abbott  not  so  widely  known, 
but  equally  honorable.  Born  of  excellent  stock,  in  the  town 
of  Andover,  he  there  passed  his  youth  in  a  good  home,  whose 
influence  powerfully  affected  his  whole  life.  His  religious 
belief  and  feelings  always  remained  firm  in  the  faith  in 
which  he  was  reared.  Soon  after  coming  of  age  he  came  to 
make  his  home  in  the  old  town  of  Danvers,  the  part  in  which 
he  lived  being  afterwards  South  Danvers,  and  now  Peabody. 
With  the  affairs  of  these  towns  he  was  closely  and  very 
prominently  identified  for  about  forty  years.  He  took  pride 
in  the  honorable  history  of  the  town,  and  in  its  growth  and 
enterprise,  and  was  deeply  interested  in  whatever  concerned 
its  good  name  and  welfare.  Until  his  later  years  he  was 
accustomed  to  take  an  active  part  in  town  meetings  when 
matters  of  special  importance  came  before  them.  Here,  as 
before  a  jury,  his  presentation  of  a  subject  was  clear  and 
forcible,  and  always  very  attractive  and  interesting,  his 
manner  thoroughly  earnest,  but  fair  and  conciliatory,  his 
management  skilful  and  effective.  Whatever  measure  he 
gave  his  support  to  was  almost  certain  to  prevail.  For  some 
years,  however,  only  matters  that  seemed  to  him  of  the  great- 
est consequence  had  been  able  to  draw  him  out  to  active 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  but  always  with  his 
old  time  influence  and  success. 

I  recall  one  of  these  later  occasions.  It  had  been  proposed 
to  remove  the  old  battle  monument  that  stands  on  the  spot 
where  the  minute  men  gathered  on  their  way  to  Lexington. 


108  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

The  proposition  roused  his  indignation.  For  days  and  nights, 
as  he  said,  before  the  time  when  the  subject  was  to  come  up 
in  the  town  meeting,  it  hardly  left  his  thoughts,  and  when 
the  matter  was  brought  forward  it  failed,  with  hardly  an 
effort  in  its  favor,  though  the  project  had  been  long  talked 
of,  and  its  presentation  carefully  prepared,  chiefly,  if  not 
solely,  because  it  became  known  that  Mr.  Abbott  was  deter- 
mined to  defeat  it. 

When  distinguished  strangers  were  to  be  entertained,  of 
which  there  were  several  noteworthy  occasions,  he  was  the 
one  looked  to,  by  common  consent,  to  represent  the  town  ; 
and  he  always  performed  this  duty  with  admirable  grace  and 
good  taste.  His  formal  public  addresses,  among  them  in  very 
recent  years  those  on  the  death  of  Garfield,  and  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  town  hall  in  Peabody,  and  his  memorial  address 
here  on  Judge  Lord  and  Mr.  Ives,  were  models,  in  thought, 
language,  and  delivery. 

His  patriotism  was  deep  and  fervid.  During  the  rebellion 
his  habits  of  life  hardly  permitted  an  active  participation  in 
the  war,  but  in  his  town  and  elsewhere  he  was  always  ready 
and  earnest  in  every  measure  for  the  support  of, R the  govern- 
ment. Even  the  bonds  of  personal  friendship  could  not 
restrain  his  quick  resentment  at  any  word  of  lukewarmness 
or  disloyalty. 

The  Peabody  Institute,  in  whose  management  he  was 
prominent  from  the  beginning,  and  at  the  head  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  was  the  object  of  his  special  care  and  pride.  He 
labored  earnestly  to  enlarge  its  usefulness,  and  zealously 
guarded  its  interests,  and  sought  to  make  sure  its  future 
prosperity.  No  doubt  to  him  the  institution  owes  more 
than  to  any  other  person,  except  its  illustrious  founder. 

To  those  near  to  him  he  was  very  tender  and  affectionate. 
His  friendships  were  deep  and  warm.  Whoever  had  him  for 
a  friend  was  sure  that  his  attachment  was  true  and  strong, 
unselfish,  active,  and  always  to  be  depended  on.  He  was 
kindly  and  generous.  He  was  benevolent,  but  without  os- 
tentation.    Few  knew  of  his  gifts,  but  the  many  objects  of 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  109 

his  charity.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  good  citizen  and  neigh- 
bor. When  it  was  known  that  he  was  dangerously  sick,  his 
townsmen  anxiously  watched  the  progress  of  the  fatal  dis- 
ease, and  when  he  died  the  regret  and  sorrow  were  universal. 
All  said  that  a  good  man  was  gone,  whose  loss  to  the  com- 
munity could  hardly  be  made  good. 

Mr.  George  B.  Ives  then  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — Even  at  the  risk  of 
wearying  your  Honor,  and  perhaps  of  merely  repeating  what 
has  been  much  more  eloquently  said  already,  I  cannot  refrain 
from  saying  a  few  words  to  express  how  forcibly  the  death 
of  Mr.  Abbott  comes  home  to  us,  the  younger  members  of 
the  Bar,  and  how  very  great  is  the  feeling  of  a  personal  loss 
experienced  by  every  one  of  us. 

Of  the  natural  and  just  pride  which  this  Bar,  and,  indeed, 
the  whole  county  of  Essex,  had  in  him  as  a  private  citizen, 
or  as  District  Attorney,  or  as  Clerk  of  Courts,  other  gentle- 
men, who  have  known  and  respected  him  in  all  those  posi- 
tions, have  already  spoken,  and  I,  whose  only  knowledge  of 
him  has  been  since  he  has  filled  the  office  of  Clerk,  could 
not,  if  I  would,  add  anything  to  what  has  been  so  fitly  ex- 
pressed in  the  memorial  which  has  been  presented. 

But  his  never-failing  courtesy  and  kindness  in  performing 
the  duties  of  the  office,  and  his  promptness  and  readiness  to 
render  assistance  and  guidance  in  matters  of  pleading  or 
practice,  are  facts  which  we  have  all  experienced,  and  the 
regret  which  the  whole  community  feels  at  the  death  of  a 
faithful  officer,  is,  in  my  case  at  least,  overshadowed  by  the 
grief  consequent  upon  the  loss  of  a  kind  and  indulgent  friend. 

Of  Mr.  Abbott's  rare  oratorical  gifts,  and  of  his  moving 
eloquence,  we  younger  men  knew  scarcely  anything,  except 
by  tradition  and  report,  until  the  last  April  term  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  for  this  county,  when  he  presented  to  the  Court 
the  memorials,  which  have  been  referred  to  today,  of  the  two 
men  who  were,  of  all  his  professional  brethren,  perhaps  the 
nearest  to  him  during  the  later  years  of  his  life.     Those  of 


110  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

his  juniors  who  listened  to  him  that  afternoon,  must  have 
shared  my  keen  regret  that  we  had  never  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  hearing  him  at  the  Bar. 

Of  the  eulogistic  words  he  employed  in  one  of  those  me- 
morials it  does  not  become  me  to  speak,  but  the  appreciation 
of,  and  love  for  one  so  closely  connected  with  myself,  which 
are  so  eloquently  expressed  therein,  can,  as  may  well  be 
imagined,  but  augment  my  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  so  dear  a 
friend. 

Judge  Pitman  then  spoke  as  follows : — 

Brethren  of  the  Essex  Bar  : — I  little  thought  when 
in  midsummer,  our  departed  brother  at  the  close  of  the  term 
took  me  by  the  hand  in  this  place  and  with  characteristic 
cordiality  spoke  of  my  return  to  hold  this  term,  that  I  should 
come  here  not  to  meet  him  but  to  mourn  him.  And  I  am 
here  today  not  merely  to  render  a  decorous  accord  to  your 
request,  but  to  express  in  inadequate  but  heartfelt  words  not 
only  on  my  own  behalf  but  on  behalf  of  all  my  Associates, 
our  deep  sense  of  the  great  personal  and  public  loss  sustained 
in  the  removal  of  our  long  honored  Clerk. 

Others  have  spoken  fitly  of  his  skill  as  an  advocate — of 
his  integrity  and  ability  as  a  prosecuting  officer  ;  and,  with 
loving  remembraace,  have  called  to  mind  some  of  those  traits 
which  made  him  so  fine  an  embodiment  of  the  Christian  gen- 
tleman. But  it  is  natural  that  I  should  speak  of  him  in  the 
special  capacity  in  which  I  have  known  him  best ;  and  where 
he  has  been  to  me  a  companion,  a  counsellor,  and  a  friend. 

Essex  has  been  fortunate  in  her  public  officers,  especially 
in  those  connected  with  her  Courts,  and  in  none  more  so  than 
in  her  Clerks.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton, the  immediate  predecessor  of  Mr.  Abbott,  bringing  to  the 
position  a  force  of  character  and  a  forensic  eminence  widely 
recognized  beyond  the  county,  and  thereafter  discharging  its 
duties  with  conspicuous  ability,  had  made  the  office  illustri- 
ous. Of  his  successor  your  Memorial  has  truly  said  that 
"  there  was  no  place  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench  to  which  he 


ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT.  Ill 

could  not  have  justly  aspired."  But  it  was  our  felicity  that 
Mr.  Abbott's  ambition  was  not  equal  to  his  ability,  and  his 
love  of  home  stronger  than  his  love  of  place. 

"  A  soul  whose  master  bias  leaned 
To  home-felt  pleasures  and  to  gentle  scenes, 
Sweet  images,  which,  wheresoe'er  he  was, 
Were  at  his  heart." 

Thus  he  served  us  with  quietness  of  spirit  for  fourteen 
years,  and  earned  the  title  you  have  given  him  of  "  the  model 
Clerk."  To  the  office  he  came  with  a  very  high  sense  of  its 
duties.  Of  it  he  thus  spoke  in  his  impressive  tribute  to  Mr. 
Huntington : — 

"  There  is  no  professional  place  more  responsible  than  this  ;  none  the 
incumbent  of  which  can  do  more  for  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  his 
brethren,  or  for  the  orderly,  reputable,  and  correct  administration  of 
justice.  And,  accordingly,  the  proper  qualifications  for  it  are  excep- 
tional and  rare." 

Those  qualifications  were  Mr.  Abbott's  by  nature,  by  gen- 
eral culture,  and  by  special  training.  What  he  was  thus 
enabled  to  do  for  "  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  his  breth- 
ren," you  best  know  and  have  justly  recognized.  What  he 
did  "  for  the  orderly,  reputable  and  correct  administration  of 
justice,"  is  partly  known  to  all  men  who  ever  entered  within 
his  time  the  Courts  of  Essex ;  but  to  which  the  Justices  of 
the  Superior  Court  would  bear  most  emphatic  testimony. 
From  the  numerous  terms  of  Essex,  held  at  places  inconven- 
ient to  him  at  times,  he  was  never  absent  except  in  cases  of 
necessity.  He  sent  no  assistant  to  attend  to  the  more  dis- 
agreeable work  of  the  criminal  sessions.  On  the  contrary, 
there,  as  he  said  to  me,  he  felt  to  be  his  special  duty.  And 
there  his  experience,  his  skill  and  aptness,  his  soundness  of 
judgment,  his  exactitude  of  method,  and  his  singular  dignity 
of  manner,  found  most  ample  scope.  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  criminal  law,  so  far  at  least  as  depends  on  its  machinery, 
was  ever  more  impressively  administered  anywhere  than  in 
this  county  during  Mr.  Abbott's  clerkship. 

How  solemnly,  and  yet  with  a  certain  grave  tenderness 
were  the  sentences  of  the  Court  announced.    How  memorable 


112  ALFRED   A.   ABBOTT. 

the  very  tones  of  his  voice  upon  such  occasions — clear  and 
firm,  but  with  a  certain  sorrowful  considerateness.  Nor  was 
the  merest  routine  of  duty  ever  slighted  or  performed  in  a 
perfunctory  spirit.  Who  can  forget  his  impanelling  of  a 
jury  in  a  criminal  case,  even  though  repeated  so  often  during 
a  day's  trial  of  petty  misdemeanors.  Nothing  to  him  was 
small  or  trivial  that  involved  a  duty.  He  reverenced  every 
ceremony  and  every  ritual  which  pertained  to  the  temple  of 
justice.  He  served  as  a  priest  at  her  altars,  and  touched  all 
things  with  the  dignity  of  his  presence.  How  thoughtless 
an  act  is  often  the  administration  of  an  oath.  To  Mr.  Ab- 
bott it  was  always  a  solemn  act,  and  performed  as  such,  not 
with  affected  seriousness,  but  with  a  sincere  and  simple 
piety. 

Let  us  not  dwell  longer  upon  details,  for  the  man  was 
greater  than  anything  he  did.  In  the  last  analysis  it  is  char- 
acter that  impresses  us  ;  and  it  is  in  the  totality  of  his  char- 
acter that  the  true  secret  of  his  power  lay,  and  that  will  best 
ensure  his  perpetual  remembrance  by  all  who  knew  him. 
That  character  had  fully  ripened.  No  frosts  of  winter  had 
touched  his  powers.  Body  and  mind  were  in  autumnal 
beauty.  Time  had  not  touched  him  but  to  mellow.  For  us 
we  could  have  desired  a  still  longer  service.  But  in  the 
Master's  eye  it  was  a  finished  life.  He  has  passed  from  our 
sight  in  the  fulness  of  his  strength.  We  shall  associate  no 
thought  of  feebleness  or  decay  with  his  memory.  From  life 
to  life,  for  "  death  is  another  life."  He  fell  almost  at  the 
post  of  duty ;  "  and  then,"  to  use  his  own  words  in  a  late 
tribute  to  a  lamented  brother,  "  soothed  by  the  kind  minis- 
trations of  domestic  love,  and  as  we  may  well  hope  with  an 
unfaltering  trust  in  the  Divine  love,  in  which  he  had  always 
humbly  believed,  he  went  to  his  eternal  rest." 

No  record  is  needed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  such  a 
man ;  but  there  is  a  sad  satisfaction  in  doing  for  him  what 
he  has  so  often  and  well  done  for  others  ;  and  so  let  this 
fraternal  tribute  of  the  bar,  with  a  minute  of  these  proceed- 
ings, be  entered  upon  the  records  of  this  Court. 


NATHAN  W.  HAZEN. 


At  the  Superior  Court  held  at  Salem  on  Tuesday,  December 
6, 1887,  Justice  Thompson  presiding,  Mr.  William  D. 
Northend,  President  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  and 
member  of  the  Committee,  presented  to  the  court  the  fol- 
lowing 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — On  the  thirteenth  day  of 
March  last,  Mr.  Nathan  Wood  Hazen,  a  member  of  the  Es- 
sex Bar,  departed  this  life.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar 
Association  held  at  Salem  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  last  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  the  deceased,  to  present  to  this  Court  with  the  request  it 
be  entered  upon  its  records ;  and  in  accordance  therewith  the 
Committee  appointed  respectfully  present  the  following 
Memorial. 

Mr.  Hazen  was  born  in  Bridgton,  Maine,  July  9th,  1800. 
He  was  a  lineal  descendant  from  Edward  Hazen,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Rowley  in  this  County.  His  father,  Jacob 
Hazen,  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Bridgton,  and  served  his 
country  as  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  mother, 
Hannah  (Wood)  Hazen,  was  born,  and  until  her  marriage, 
lived  in  Boxf  ord  in  this  County.  At  the  time  of  her  marriage 
Bridgton  was  a  frontier  town  with  a  sparse  population.  Mr. 
Hazen  often  referred  to  the  fact  that  when  he  was  three 
months  old  his  mother  carried  him  on  horseback  the  entire  dis- 
tance from  Bridgton  to  Boxford  to  visit  her  parents.  She 
was  a  woman  of  superior  character,  and  he  to  the  last  cher- 
ished the  warmest  affection  and  reverence  for  her  memory. 

He  was  educated  at  the  common  schools  and  at  Bridgton 
Academy.  He  was  very  studious,  and  at  school  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  scholarly  habits  which  characterized  his 
after  life.     He  came  to  Salem  when  about  sixteen  years  of 


114  NATHAN  W.   HAZEN. 

age  where  he  remained  several  years,  when  he  removed  to 
Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  where  he  taught  school.  After- 
wards he  returned  to  Salem  and  read  law  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Leverett  Saltonstall  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  this 
County  in  1829,  and  immediately  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Andover  where  he  resided  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  He  had  for  many  years  a  considerable  business  in  the 
courts,  and  was  distinguished  for  great  carefulness  in  the 
preparation,  and  confidence  and  courage  in  the  trials  of  his 
cases.  He  made  no  pretensions  at  rhetorical  display,  but  dis- 
cussed questions  of  law  with  great  clearness  and  ability.  He 
was  always  ready  at  repartee.  An  anecdote  is  related  of  him 
that  soon  after  his  admission  to  the  Bar,  he  was  engaged  in 
the  trial  of  a  cause  in  which  the  counsel  opposed  to  him  was  a 
very  large  man  physically.  Mr.  Hazen  was  a  very  small  man 
in  stature.  In  the  course  of  the  trial  his  opponent  in  reply  to 
a  statement  of  Mr.  Hazen  exclaimed :  "  My  little  fellow,  I 
could  catch  you  up  and  stow  you  away  in  my  coat  pocket." 
Mr.  Hazen  immediately  arose  and  replied  :  "  May  it  please  your 
Honor,  if  my  brother  should  put  me  in  his  coat  pocket,  he 
would  have  more  law  in  his  pocket  than  he  ever  had  in  his 
head." 

Mr.  Hazen  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate  in 
1856,  and  was  for  many  years  President  of  the  Merrimack  Mu- 
tual Fire  Insurance  Company.  Although  he  was  always  deep- 
ly interested  in  the  political  questions  of  the  day,  he  had  but 
little  ambition  or  desire  for  public  life.  He  was  a  man  of 
generous  culture.  His  greatest  enjoyment  was  in  his  well 
filled  library,  and  his  reading  was  extensive  and  thorough  up- 
on a  large  variety  of  subjects.  He  wrote  many  able  articles 
for  magazines  and  reviews.  His  letter  to  the  Essex  Bar  As- 
sociation upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  which  is 
printed  in  his  memorial  volume,  for  literary  excellence,  care- 
ful and  just  analysis  of  character,  and  chaste  and  loving  eulo- 
gy, has  attracted  the  attention  of  every  reader  of  the  volume. 
His  more  recent  memorial  of  Caleb  Cushing,  presented  to  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Associa- 


NATHAN  W.   HAZEN.  115 

tion,  was  a  very  able  and  eloquent  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
that  distinguished  jurist  and  statesman.  In  private  and  social 
life  Mr.  Hazen  was  an  exemplary  man.  He  was  a  loving  and 
devoted  husband,  and  a  kind  and  sympathizing  neighbor. 
With  a  mind  well  stored  with  information,  his  conversation 
in  the  company  of  friends,  was  always  listened  to  with  pleas- 
ure and  instruction.  His  friendships  were  very  strong  and 
enduring.  In  his  last  years  he  delighted  in  frequent  visits 
to  his  friends,  especially  of  the  Bar,  in  different  parts  of  the 
county,  and  he  was  always  welcomed.     His  old  age  was 

"  As  a  lusty  winter 
Frosty,  but  kindly." 

May  it  please  your  Honor,  at  the  request  of  the  Essex  Bar 
Association  I  ask  that  this  brief  memorial  may  be  placed  up- 
on the  records  of  the  Court. 

Remarks  of  Mr.  Daniel  Saunders  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — In  rising  to  second  the 
motion  that  the  memorial  just  read  be  placed  upon  the  files 
and  made  a  part  of  the  records  of  this  Court,  I  do  so  not  to 
add  anything  to  that  which  has  been  so  well  said  in  this  just 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  of  our  oldest  and  most  respected 
members  of  the  Bar,  but  simply  to  say  that  my  long  and  in- 
timate acquaintance  with  Mr.  Hazen  enables  me  to  assert 
with  confidence  and  authority  that  the  memorial  does  no  more 
than  justice  to  the  character,  ability,  and  virtues  of  the  man. 
To  a  large  number  of  our  Bar  Mr.  Hazen  was  not  known  per- 
sonally as  he  had  retired  from  active  practice  before  they 
came  upon  the  stage  of  professional  duties.  He  was  a  cotem- 
porary  with  Saltonstall,  Merrill,  King,  Choate,  and  the  Lord 
Brothers — men  who  have  made  the  Essex  Bar  the  foremost  in 
the  state.  These  men  were  his  friends  and  intimate  ac- 
quaintances, beloved  by  them  for  his  kind,  genial,  and  social 
qualities,  and  respected  by  them  for  his  sterling  worth,  learn- 
ing, and  ability. 

Mr.  Hazen  was  a  man  well  trained  by  thorough  study  in 
his  profession,  and  he  brought  his  cases  before  the  courts  with 


116  NATHAN   W.   HAZEN. 

careful  preparation  and  presented  them  with  a  logical  clear- 
ness that  enabled  the  court  and  jury  to  understand  at  once 
the  law  and  facts  in  issue.  While  most  of  the  members  of 
this  Bar  have  never  had  an  opportunity  to  witness  this  dis- 
play of  his  talents,  if  they  will  look  through  our  law  reports 
they  will  find  that  he  has  presented  to  the  bench  some  of  the 
closest  questions  in  law  that  the  courts  have  been  called  up- 
on to  decide — and  a  careful  reading  of  these  cases  will  show 
that  Mr.  Hazen  had  not  only  a  clearer  appreciation  of  the 
great  principles  which  are  the  foundation  of  law,  but  that  he 
had  also  a  keen  insight  in  those  fine  shades  of  distinction 
which  separate  analogous  cases.  He  was  a  true  and  faithful 
friend,  and  a  kind  neighbor,  a  just  and  upright  citizen.  A 
man  well  worthy  to  be  remembered  among  his  great  cotem- 
poraries,  and  his  example  to  be  followed  by  those  who  come 
after  him. 

Justice  Thompson  said  : — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — When  I  came  to  this  Bar,  thir- 
ty years  ago,  Mr.  Hazen  was  acknowledged  by  the  Courts, 
the  Bar,  and  the  public,  to  be  a  wise  and  learned  counsellor, 
an  upright  man  possessed  of  marked  ability  and  true  dignity 
of  character,  and  he  was  so  regarded  by  all  who  knew  him  to 
the  hour  of  his  death.  He  entertained  a  high  regard  for  his 
brethren  of  the  Bar  and  always  gave  them  a  hearty  greeting. 
He  took  a  lively  interest  in  everything  relating  to  the  pro- 
fession. 

Although  for  several  years  before  his  death  he  was  not  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  consequently 
the  younger  members  of  the  law  have  not  had  the  opportu- 
nity to  witness  his  efforts  or  to  judge  from  personal  observa- 
tion of  his  ability  as  a  lawyer,  but  they  have  learned  from 
those  who  were  his  contemporaries  that  he  was  well  grounded 
in  the  elementary  principles  of  the  law,  a  diligent  student, 
accurate  in  his  learning,  skilful  in  pleading  when  the  prin- 
ciples of  pleading  were  much  more  complicated  than  now, 
when  success  depended  largely  upon  one's  ability  to  correct- 
ly present  the  issue  to  be  determined. 


NATHAN   W.   HAZEN.  11T 

He  had  a  clear  appreciation  of  the  questions  of  law  involved 
in  a  case,  and  was  able  to  discuss  them  with  great  clearness 
and  learning,  and  was  a  formidable  opponent  in  a  trial  where 
important  legal  questions  were  involved. 

When  he  used  his  pen  to  discuss  public  questions  he  al- 
ways made  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  subject  and  proved 
himself  to  be  a  writer  of  rare  merit.  He  was  eminently  a  con- 
servative. He  looked  with  apprehension  upon  any  radical 
change  in  law,  government,  or  society,  and  held  in  veneration 
the  institutions  and  laws  established  by  the  fathers.  He 
realized  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  of  length  of  days  for 
the  righteous,  and  having  faithfully  performed  the  duties  of 
this  life  he  fell  asleep  to  awake  to  the  realities  of  another  and 
higher  life,  leaving  an  honored  name,  and  none  but  pleasant 
memories. 

Judge  Thompson  then  ordered  that  the  Memorial  be  placed 
upon  the  records  of  the  Court,  and  that  the  Court  be  ad- 
journed. 


GEORGE  F.  CHOATE. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  September 
4,  1888,  Messrs.  William  D.  Northend,  Thomas  B.  Newhall, 
Elbridge  T.  Burley,  Eben  F.  Stone,  and  Jeremiah  T.  Mahoney 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Hon- 
orable George  F.  Choate,  to  be  presented  to  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  held  at  Salem,  December  6, 
1888,  Mr.  Justice  Field  presiding,  Mr.  William  D. 
Northend  for  the  Essex  Bar  Association  presented  the 
following  memorial : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — It  has  been  for  many  years 
a  custom  with  the  Essex  bar,  when  a  member  who  has 
achieved  distinction  by  his  conspicuous  ability  and  learning 
dies,  to  request  the  courts  to  place  upon  their  records,  not 
simply  resolutions  embodying  the  sense  of  the  bar  upon  their 
bereavement,  but  a  more  full  and  extended  tribute  to  show 
the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  contemporaries  at 
the  bar,  and  to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  In  accordance  with 
this  custom,  a  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  Essex 
Bar  Association  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  the  late  Hon. 
George  Francis  Choate,  judge  of  probate  and  insolvency 
for  this  county,  who  died  at  Sharon  Springs,  in  New  York, 
on  the  eleventh  day  of  July  last,  to  be  presented  to  this 
court.  The  committee  have  performed  this  duty,  and  re- 
spectfully present  the  following  memorial ; 

Judge  Choate  was  born  in  Essex,  in  this  county,  February 
9,  1822.  He  was  descended  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
respected  families  in  this  county.  His  father,  William 
Choate,  was  a  brother  of  Francis  Choate  and  Dr.  George 
Choate,  who  resided  in  Salem.  Rufus  Choate  was  their 
cousin.     Dr.  George  Choate  was  father  of  the  Hon.  Joseph 


GEORGE   F.   CHOATE.  119 

H.  Choate,  LL.D.,  and  the  Hon.  William  G.  Choate  of  New 
York  city,  and  Dr.  George  S.  C.  Choate,  formerly  superin- 
tendent of  the  hospital  for  the  insane  at  Taunton,  and 
Charles  F.  Choate,  Esq.,  president  of  the  Old  Colony  Rail- 
road Company.  William  Choate  purchased  from  his  brothers 
their  interest  in  the  paternal  acres  at  Essex  and  followed  the 
occupation  of  farming.  He  died  in  Essex  in  1829,  leaving 
as  his  only  child  the  subject  of  this  memorial,  then  seven 
years  of  age.  The  year  after  his  father's  death  he  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  Mr.  Francis  Vose,  master  of  Topsfield 
Academy,  where  he  remained  about  one  year,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Essex,  where  he  lived  under  the  care  of  his  mother 
until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  His  health  during  most 
of  this  period  was  very  poor,  yet  he  was  able  to  attend  school 
a  portion  of  the  time  under  the  instruction  of  the  Hon.  Da- 
vid Choate,  brother  of  Ruf us,  who  was  for  many  years  a  suc- 
cessful teacher  in  the  town. 

In  1834  he  entered  Dummer  Academy,  where  he  continued 
his  studies  under  Master  Nehemiah  Cleaveland,  LL.  D.,  until 
1838,  when  he  was  placed  under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev. 
Sidney  Eaton  at  Andover,  where  he  finished  his  preparation 
for  college.  In  1839  he  entered  Bowdoin  College  and  was 
graduated  from  that  institution  in  1843.  After  finishing  his 
college  course  he  taught  school  in  his  native  town  two  years, 
when  he  entered  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Jonathan  C.  Perkins, 
LL.D.,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  this  county  in  1847. 

Immediately  upon  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he  entered  into 
a  law  partnership  with  your  memorialist  under  the  firm  name 
of  Northend  and  Choate,  which  was  continued  until  his  ap- 
pointment of  judge  of  probate  and  insolvency  for  the  county 
of  Essex,  in  1858.  He  continued  in  this  office  until  the  time 
of  his  death. 

No  words  of  mine  are  necessary  to  inform  the  court,  the 
bar,  or  the  people  of  the  county,  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
performed  the  various  and  oftentimes  perplexing  duties  of  his 
office  during  this  long  period.  This  court  having  appellate 
jurisdiction  from  the  probate  court  has  been  made  familiar 


120  GEORGE   F.   CHOATE. 

with  the  ability,  wisdom  and  prudenee  with  which  he  dis- 
charged his  official  duties,  and  has  often  shown  its  apprecia- 
tion of  these  qualities  in  selecting  him  as  master  to  aid  the 
court  by  preliminary  hearing  and  report  in  important  causes. 
The  bar  of  the  county  have  not  only  been  made  familiar  with 
his  conduct  on  the  bench  in  their  frequent  and  varied  prac- 
tice in  his  court,  and  learned  to  appreciate  his  great  abilities 
and  judgment  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  office,  but 
have  been  accorded,  without  stint,  the  benefit  of  his  extensive 
and  accurate  learning,  in  intricate  cases  of  their  own,  in 
every  branch  of  jurisprudence.  The  bar,  in  his  death,  have 
lost  a  wise  counsellor  and  friend.  It  is  to  each  member  a 
personal  loss  and  bereavement.  The  people  of  the  county, 
and  there  are  but  few  families  which  have  not  been  repre- 
sented before  him,  learned  to  confide  implicitly  in  his  wisdom 
and  integrity,  and  to  appreciate  the  patience  and  kindness 
which  he  invariably  exhibited,  and  the  assistance  he,  without 
ostentation,  rendered  them  in  their  business  before  his  court 
with  which  many  were  unfamiliar.  The  people  of  the  coun- 
ty lament  and  mourn  his  loss. 

Judge  Choate  was  deficient  in  qualities  indispensable  for 
a  successful  advocate.  His  intellect  was  so  constituted  that 
it  was  difficult  for  him  to  consider  one  side  of  a  case  without 
equal  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  other.  There  could  be,  in 
his  nature,  no  enthusiasm  in  searching  out  the  strong  points 
of  a  case  for  the  purpose  of  asserting  those  on  the  one  side  and 
denouncing  those  on  the  other.  He  could  not  make  the 
worse  appear  the  better  reason ;  he  could  never  be  a  partisan. 
But  he  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  the  qualities  of  mind 
and  the  temperament  essential  in  the  performance  of  judicial 
duties.  Always  dispassionate  and  self-possessed,  he  tried 
causes  with  great  patience  and  impartiality.  In  the  de- 
cisions he  arrived  at  in  the  large  number  of  cases  he  tried, 
however  much  disappoinment  the  losing  party  might  feel,  no 
one  ever,  for  the  moment  even,  accused  him  of  unfairness  or 
partiality.  It  has  been  often  said  of  a  class  of  judges  that 
their  decisions  might  be  respected  if  they  did  not  attempt  to 


GEORGE  F.   CHOATE.  121 

give  their  reasons  for  them,  but  it  was  the  custom  with  Judge 
Choate  in  cases  submitted  to  him  as  referee  or  auditor,  to 
give  fully  in  his  findings  the  grounds  and  reasons  for  his  de- 
cision, and  the  clearness  and  consistency  of  his  statement 
with  his  decision  were  always  appreciated  by  both  parties, 
and  often  reconciled  the  losing  party  to  the  result.  He  was 
a  careful  and  industrious  student.  He  was  well  grounded 
in  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  and  to  the  last,  read 
and  was  familiar  with  the  decisions  of  the  Court  in  all 
branches  of  law  and  equity. 

He  annotated  an  edition  of  Angell  on  highways  and  of 
Perry  on  trusts,  and  for  a  time  intended  to  write  a  book  on 
probate  law.  His  portrait  by  Vinton,  painted  at  the  request 
of  the  bar,  has  been  placed  in  the  law  library. 

Judge  Choate  was  modest  and  unassuming  in  his  manners. 
Although  he  took  much  interest  in  public  affairs  and  held 
decided  opinions  upon  the  political  questions  of  the  day,  he 
never  sought  public  office.  He  held  in  utter  contempt  the 
arts  of  the  politician  and  would  never  take  an  active  part  in 
political  organizations.  His  ambition  was  satisfied  with  the 
careful  and  conscientious  performance  of  the  responsible 
duties  which  his  office  and  his  appointments  by  the  court  and 
bar  called  for.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation and  served  on  the  school  committee  of  Salem  for  four- 
teen years,  and  he  was  for  many  years,  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  a  trustee  of  Dummer  Academy,  in  which  institution 
he  took  a  great  interest. 

I  can  hardly  trust  myself  to  speak  of  Judge  Choate  in 
private  life.  My  schoolmate,  classmate  in  college,  and  partner 
for  eleven  years,  intimate  and  confidential  always,  to  the  last, 
no  words  of  mine  can  adequately  portray  that  character 
which  is  hid  from  the  public  eye.  Those  who  knew  him  only 
in  the  performance  of  his  professional  and  official  duties  can 
have  but  little  idea  of  the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  his  char- 
acter in  private  life.  True  and  unswerving  in  his  friend- 
ships, interesting  and  instructive  in  conversation,  gener- 
ous and  confiding,  abounding  in  that  charity  that  "  thinketh 


122  GEORGE  P.   CHOATE. 

no  evil,"  he  was  beloved  by  all  who  were  admitted  to  his 
friendship.  He  was  "  to  those  men  that  sought  him  sweet  as 
summer." 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  I  ask  that  this  me- 
morial and  a  minute  of  these  proceedings  be  entered  upon 
the  records  of  this  court. 

Upon  the  reading  of  the  memorial,  Me.  Thomas  B.  New- 
hall  said: — 

I  desire,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  to  express  my  entire 
concurrence  in  the  portraiture  of  the  character  of  the  late 
Judge  Choate,  as  drawn  in  the  paper  just  read  by  our  brother 
Northend.  I  was  called  to  the  bar  at  an  earlier  date  than 
Judge  Choate,  and  have  known  him  through  the  whole  of 
his  professional  and  judicial  life,  casually  in  its  earlier  years, 
but,  after  he  was  appointed  judge,  more  thoroughly  from  the 
acquaintance  which  I  made  with  him  in  his  court.  From  his 
reputation  at  the  bar  I  had  begun  to  respect  him  as  a  practi- 
tioner, and  from  full  knowledge  of  his  traits  I  formed  the 
highest  respect  and  some  larger  measure  of  admiration  for 
him.  He  Was  conceded  to  be  an  able  and  learned  judge,  but 
I  think  that  the  most  striking  and  admirable  trait  of  his 
character  was  his  moral  and  mental  conscientiousness.  Suit- 
ors are  often  disappointed,  and  judges  sometimes  err,  but  I 
think  no  one  left  his  court,  whatever  may  have  been  the  re- 
sults in  his  cause,  whether  favorable  or  otherwise,  who  did 
not  feel  that  he  had  a  judgment  untainted  by  passion,  prej- 
udice or  any  wrong  influence.  Judge  Choate's  mind  was 
discriminating,  free  from  all  influences  which  imperceptibly 
may  disturb  the  judgment  of  the  most  conscientious  mag- 
istrate. He  was  apparently  wholly  free  from  any  bias  of  friend- 
ship or  prejudice.  He  carefully  and  thoroughly  studied 
and  considered  the  questions  upon  which  he  had  to  pass, 
and  the  judgment  when  arrived  at  received  weight  and  con- 
fidence from  his  high  personal  character.  He  was  retiring 
and  undemonstrative,but  cordial  and  genial  in  his  intercourse, 
attracting  and  making  friends,  not  by  any  grace  of  manner 


GEORGE  P.   CHOATE.  123 

or  personal  accomplishments,  but  by  the  grace  which  a  kind 
and  benevolent  heart,  and  a  cultured  and  well  improved  mind, 
and  a  warmth  and  sincerity  of  affection,  so  conspicuous  in 
him,  imparted. 

He  was  patient,  impartial  and  firm,  but  ever  ready  to  re- 
ceive any  information  or  light  which  suitors  were  able  to 
give  him.  He  was  pure  in  mind,  of  great  integrity  and  can- 
dor, of  firm  religious  faith,  of  generous  and  genial  impulses 
with  his  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  a  most  delightful 
and  instructive  companion.  I  respectfully  second  the  motion 
made  by  Mr.  Northend  that  the  memorial  and  a  minute  of 
these  proceedings  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  court. 

Mr.  Daniel  Saunders  then  said  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — In  speaking  of  Judge 
Choate  and  expressing  my  idea  of  his  character  I  can  and  do 
most  heartily  indorse  all  that  has  been  said  of  him  in  the 
memorial  just  read  and  in  the  remarks  of  Judge  Newhall  in 
seconding  the  request  that  the  memorial  be  made  a  matter  of 
record  in  this  court.  The  memorial  written  by  a  loving  and 
life-long  friend  expresses  in  fitting  words  an  eloquent,  but 
only  a  just  and  well  deserved  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our 
departed  brother. 

Mr.  Choate's  character  has  been  appreciated  long  before 
it  was  developed  in  judicial  decisions.  His  legal  attainments 
had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  courts,  and  his  honesty 
and  integrity  had  won  the  confidence  and  respect  at  the  bar, 
so  that  long  before  his  appointment  as  judge  of  probate  he 
had  been  selected  by  the  bar  and  bench  to  act  as  referee, 
auditor  or  master  in  chancery  in  many  important  cases.  The 
legal  acumen  which  he  displayed,  and  the  careful  consider- 
ation which  he  gave  to  all  matters  submitted  to  him,  together 
with  the  fairness  and  impartiality  of  his  decisions,  pointed 
him  out  as  preeminently  a  fit  person  to  administer  the  deli- 
cate and  important  duties  of  a  probate  judge.  During  the 
long  term  he  held  this  office  no  one  questioned  his  fidelity  to 
duty,  and  this  court  had  but  few  occasions  to  overrule  his 
decisions. 


124  GEORGE   F.   CHOATE. 

However  eminent  or  successful  may  have  been  his  prede- 
cessors, or  however  worthy  may  be  his  successors,  in 
the  office  which  he  filled  so  acceptably,  no  one  has  left,  and 
no  one  will  leave  it,  with  a  higher  regard  of  the  bar,  or  with 
the  more  profound  respect  and  veneration  of  the  people. 

Fleeting  as  is  the  reputation  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers, 
yet  will  the  memory  of  Judge  Choate  be  held  in  high  esteem 
so  long  as  any  of  his  contemporaries  survive  him,  and  the 
record  of  his  judgments  in  official  life  will  be  an  enduring 
monument  to  his  ability  and  integrity. 

Mr.  William  H.  Niles  said : — 

May  it  please  the  Court  : — I  deem  it  a  privilege  to  en- 
dorse as  far  as  I  am  able  all  that  has  been  said.  My  acquain- 
tance with  Judge  Choate  did  not  extend  as  far  back  as  did 
the  acquaintance  of  the  brethren  who  have  preceded  me,  but 
I  did  know  him  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  for  ten  years  or 
more  I  knew  him  well. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  he  was  a  remarkable  man.  Every- 
one who  had  business  in  his  court  or  with  him  anywhere  be- 
came sensible  of  his  superiority.  Such  learning  and  such 
dignity  are  rarely  seen  in  any  man,  and  yet  he  was  so  mild 
in  his  manners,  so  patient  and  so  modest  everywhere  and  at 
all  times,  that  there  was  peculiar  pleasure  as  well  as  security 
in  dealing  with  him. 

Of  all  that  distinguished  him  in  his  court,  and  there  was 
much,  there  was  nothing  greater  than  his  intense  and  conscien- 
tious desire  to  penetrate  and  understand  thoroughly  every 
matter  brought  before  him.  Young  men  and  those  not  much 
versed  in  law,  or  much  used  to  practice  in  court,  felt  before 
him  a  degree  of  safety  not  generally  experienced,  even  before 
our  best  judges,  and  out  of  court  as  well  as  in  court,  he  was 
always  ready  to  assist  and  give  advice  from  his  learning  and 
experience  which  seemed  inexhaustible. 

He  thoroughly  disliked  fraud,  deceit  or  any  indirection, 
and  if  anything  of  the  kind  appeared  he  did  not  let  it  pass 
until  he  had  deeply  probed  it,  so  that  the  person   accused 


GEORGE   F.   CHOATE.  125 

might  be  vindicated  if  it  were  unfounded  or  exposed  if  it 
were  true.  His  honesty  and  conscientiousness,  as  well  as 
his  learning  and  patience,  justified  the  confidence  which  we 
all  felt  in  going  before  him. 

But  it  is  needless  for  me  to  say  more,  and  I  cannot  do 
better  than  to  close  as  I  began,  by  expressing  my  earnest  and 
heartfelt  endorsement  of  all  that  has  been  said. 

Mr.  Solomon  Lincoln  then  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — I  was  unaware  when  I 
came  into  the  court  room  a  few  moments  ago  that  this  after- 
noon had  been  selected  to  pay  our  respectful  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  Judge  Choate,  and  I  could  have  wished  that  such 
a  part  as  I  might  take  in  it  could  have  had  the  benefit  of 
more  preparation.  Such  was  my  respect  and  regard  for  him 
that  I  feel  that  such  a  duty  requires  careful  thought ;  but 
though  what  I  say  is  unpremeditated  it  is  none  the  less  sincere. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  Judge  Choate  in  various 
relations :  as  a  neighbor  and  friend,  as  a  citizen  of  this  munici- 
pality, as  a  lawyer,  practising  to  some  extent  at  the  Bar,  and, 
as  all  knew  him  best,  the  judge  of  the  probate  court  of  this 
county.  When  I  recall  these  various  relations  I  might  per- 
haps touch  upon  qualities  which  were  conspicuous  in  each ; 
nevertheless,  such  a  discrimination  is  not  especially  valuable, 
because  the  same  traits  of  his  strong  personality  were  exhib- 
ited in  all  his  relations  to  all  of  us. 

Recalling  him  as  a  neighbor  and  a  friend,  his  memory  comes 
to  all  of  us  who  had  the  privilege  to  know  him  thus  with 
feelings  of  deep  affection.  As  a  citizen  of  this  community 
none  was  wiser  or  more  public  spirited ;  and  there  was  none 
whose  services  it  might  have  employed  with  greater  advan- 
tage. As  a  lawyer  he  was  a  most  sagacious  counsellor ;  and 
although  in  these  courts  his  appearance  was  too  infrequent, 
and  his  too  great  modesty  always  restrained  him,  yet  he  ren- 
dered most  valuable  assistance  to  the  bench  and  to  all  who 
sought  his  aid. 

In  reference  to  his  qualities  as  a  magistrate  in  which  func- 


126  GEORGE  F.   CHOATE. 

tion  his  most  conspicuous  services  were  rendered,  I  could  not 
hope  to  add  anything  to  the  very  complete,  discriminating,  and 
affectionate  tribute  which  our  brother  Northend  and  those 
who  have  followed  him  have  paid.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  call  to  mind  the  associations  of  his  court.  I  may  say 
for  all  whose  practice  brought  us  there,  that  not  merely  were 
we  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  an  honest  judge  was 
endeavoring  to  render  justice — this  we  can  proudly  say  of 
all  our  courts — but  before  him  we  experienced  a  sensation  of 
pleasure,  of  intellectual  pleasure,  in  practising  before  a  mag- 
istrate whose  abilities  commanded  extreme  respect  and  by 
whom  we  knew  that  every  position  well  taken  would  be  un- 
derstood and  supported.  We  felt  not  merely  that  he  was  a 
judge  anxious  to  render  justice  if  he  could  see  the  way  ;  we 
knew  that  he  saw  the  way,  that  his  court  was  not  a  place  for 
shallow  claims.  So  well  was  this  understood  that  in  this 
county  he  was  judge  not  merely  by  authority  of  the  execu- 
tive commission,  but  by  a  voluntary  selection,  well  nigh  uni- 
versal, on  the  part  of  litigants  who  preferred  his  private  ar- 
bitration to  the  scarcely  more  unerring  justice  of  the  courts. 

It  is,  however,  as  I  said,  hardly  profitable  to  attempt  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  qualities  which  he  displayed  in  various 
walks.  Over  them  all  his  modesty  threw  a  partial  veil, — a 
modesty  which,  if  I  may  so  say,  was  almost  a  fault.  At  least, 
the  community  suffered  in  the  loss  of  services  which  he  was  so 
well  qualified  to  render,  but  which  this  modesty  forbade  him 
to  render  unasked. 

I  prefer  to  give  my  last  word  to  those  feelings  of  regard 
and  affection  which  all  entertain  who  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  his  delightful  acquaintance.  He  had  the  experience  and 
shrewdness  of  the  man  of  affairs,  with  a  keen  eye  to  discover 
whatever  was  unsound  and  false :  to  this  he  added  the  culture 
and  wit  of  the  scholar.  Beneath  all  lay  a  kind  and  generous 
nature.  These  qualities  lent  a  genial  charm  to  our  inter- 
course with  him  and  keep  his  memory  green. 

Mr.  Thomas  M.  Stimpson  then  said : — 
I  well  remember  the  occasion  of  my  first  meeting   with 


GEOBGE  F.   CHOATE.  127 

Judge  Choate.  He  was  then  in  practice  at  the  Bar  as  a 
member  of  the  legal  firm  of  Northend  and1  Choate.  I  had  just 
finished  my  college  course  and  was  about  to  take  the  first 
steps  to  enter  upon  the  study  of  the  law.  The  reputation  of 
the  firm  drew  me  thither  for  advice  as  to  my  course.  The 
kindness  of  Mr.  Choate  won  my  regard  at  once,  and  his  gen- 
eral bearing  made  an  impression  upon  me  that  will  never  be 
effaced. 

As  time  went  on,  and  opportunities  for  judgment  multiplied, 
I  and  my  contemporaries  at  the  Essex  Bar  came  to  entertain 
for  Mr.  Choate's  legal  attainments  a  very  high  opinion.  In 
due  time  an  opportunity  came  to  give  expression  to  that  opin- 
ion. 

A  vacancy  had  occurred  in  the  office  of  judge  of  the  court 
of  probate  and  insolvency  for  this  county.  Many  of  us,  his 
legal  brethren,  thought  him  the  fittest  man  for  the  place,  and 
urged  his  appointment  with  success.  At  a  period  in  life  when 
he  had  a  long  career  of  usefulness  before  him  he  entered  up- 
on the  duties  of  that  judicial  post. 

With  what  fidelity  those  duties  were  performed  is  known 
to  all  here  present,  and  no  greater  tribute,  than  to  acknowl- 
edge that  fidelity,  can  be  paid  by  us  to  our  departed  friend. 
But  beyond  this,  we  take  pride  in  the  ability  displayed  by 
Judge  Choate  in  his  many  and  varied  duties,  calling  out  to 
the  full  his  eminent  legal  attainments  in  the  way  most  con- 
genial to  him.  His  stores  of  legal  knowledge  were  equal  to 
any  emergency,  and  he  was  unsparing  in  the  patience  and 
good  nature  with  which  he  brought  them  to  bear,  on  all 
proper  occasions,  to  smooth  the  path  of  those  who  met  with 
difficulties  while  practising  before  him. 

Judge  Choate,  in  his  judicial,  and  to  some  extent  in  his 
social  intercourse  with  others,  has  been  called  rather  taciturn. 
To  some  extent  this  was  true,  but  it  was  so  because  the 
frivolous  and  inconsequential  were  foreign  to  his  very  nature, 
which  had  as  little  sympathy  with  mental  weakness  as  with 
moral  turpitude.  We  have  all  seen  occasions  when  he  was 
even  eloquent  in  vindication  of  the  right  and  in  exposure  of 


128  GEORGE  F.   CHOATE. 

what  was  wrong.  Rarely,  except  at  such  times,  did  he  dis- 
play that  warmth  of  nature,  which  gained  for  him  so  high  a 
place  in  the  regard  of  those  who  enjoyed  his  friendship  and 
confidence. 

Mr.  George  Wheatland  then  said : — 

Judge  Choate  was  modest,  retiring,  unassuming,  in  all  his 
ways.  He  little  appreciated  his  own  legal  talent  and  ac- 
quirements ;  he  was  one  of  the  best  lawyers  it  was  ever  my 
lot  to  meet.  When  he  was  appointed  judge  of  probate  he  en- 
tered upon  the  duties  of  the  office  with  a  full  sense  of  what 
lay  before  him,  and  he  performed  the  duties  of  the  office  for 
twenty-nine  years  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Bar  and 
the  public. 

Mr.  Justice  FiELD^responded  as  follows : — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — Although  my  acquaintance 
with  Judge  Choate  was  slight,  I  have  long  known  what  the 
bar  and  the  people  of  this  county  thought  of  him.  You  can 
speak  of  him  with  an  intimate  knowledge,  for  his  whole  pro- 
fessional life  was  spent  here.  He  held  the  office  of  judge  of 
probate  for  almost  a  generation,  and  the  titles  to  a  large  part 
of  the  property  in  the  county  must  have  passed  through  the 
court  while  he  was  judge.  The  jurisdiction  of  a  judge  of 
probate  under  our  statutes  is  so  extensive  and  varied  that  he 
can  exhibit  and  use  in  his  office  many  accomplishments  and 
many  kinds  of  ability,  if  he  have  them.  His  duties  are  in  a 
sense  administrative  as  well  as  judicial :  he  sits  like  a  judge 
of  old  time,  accessible  to  all  suitors,  to  give  direction  and  ad- 
vice as  well  as  to  decide  controversies.  Many  questions  come 
before  him  in  which  he  has  not  the  aid  of  the  bar,  and  often 
good  judgment  and  a  knowledge  of  men  and  of  affairs  are  as 
necessary  as  professional  learning.  The  careful  and  intelli- 
gent manner  in  which  Judge  Choate  performed  all  his  duties 
is  well  known  to  this  court,  before  which  many  of  his  decrees 
and  reports  as  master  or  auditor  have  come  for  examination. 
The  judgment  of  the  bar  and  of  the  public  upon  his  ability, 
character  and  conduct  you  have  expressed  in  your  memorial. 


GEORGE  F.   CHOATE.  129 

I  have  noticed  that  Judge  Choate  was  uniformly  spoken 
of  with  a  degree  of  affection  not  always  felt  for  every 
good  lawyer  or  good  judge.  He  seemed  to  have  acquired 
none  of  the  irritating  intellectual  habits  which  have  some- 
times been  attributed  to  lawyers.  Perhaps  as  your  memorial 
suggests,  his  inability  to  exaggerate  trifles  or  to  look  only  at 
one  side  of  a  question  and  a  certain  lack  of  smartness  and 
self-assertion,  account  for  this.  He  was  never  arrogant  or 
disputatious.  He  appeared  like  a  scholarly,  conscientious 
and  well-bred  gentleman,  who  felt  that  the  administration  of 
justice  to  which  he  was  devoted  was  but  one  of  many  ways 
in  which  the  existing  civilization  is  maintained  and  the  com- 
mon welfare  is  promoted.  It  is  becoming  that  such  perma- 
nency as  a  record  affords  should  be  given  to  the  reputation 
which  he  acquired  among  his  contemporaries.  It  is  therefore 
ordered  that  the  memorial,  with  a  memorandum  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, be  entered  upon  the  records  of  this  court. 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  in  the 
Court  House  in  Salem,  January  22,  1894,  the  President  and 
Messrs.  Northend,  Moody,  Moulton,  Herrick,  Niles  and 
Saunders  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  and  present 
to  the  Superior  Court  a  suitable  memorial  of  Charles  P. 
Thompson. 

At  a  session  of  the  Superior  Court  in  Salem,  June  29,  1894, 
there  being  present  Justices  Sherman,  Lilley  and 
Sheldon,  Mr.  William  D.  Northend  for  the  committee, 
appointed  by  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  presented  the 
following 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honors: — The  Essex  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, in  accordance  with  a  revered  custom,  appointed  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  Memorial  of  the  late  Honorable 
Charles  Perkins  Thompson,  a  member  of  this  Bar,  and 
a  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court  of  this  Commonwealth,  who 
died  at  Gloucester,  in  this  County,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of 
January  last,  to  be  presented  to  this  Court,  and  the  commit- 
tee respectfully  report : 

Judge  Thompson  was  born  in  Braintree,  July  30th,  1827. 
His  parents  were  Frederick  M.,  and  Susanna  (Cheesman) 
Thompson.  He  attended  the  public  schools  of  the  town  un- 
til he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  when  he  entered  the  Hollis 
Institute  in  South  Braintree,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
After  this  he  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1852  en- 
tered the  law  office  of  Messrs.  Hallett  and  Thomas  in  Boston, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Suffolk  County,  October 
16th,  1854. 

Mr.  Isaac  C.  Wyman,  who  was  a  student  with  him  in  Hal- 
lett and  Thomas'  office  writes,  "  It  was  in  the  fifties,  some 
forty  years  ago,  that  the  late  Judge  Charles  P.  Thompson 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  131 

became  a  student  in  the  office  of  Hallett  and  Thomas  at  the 
corner  of  Court  Street  and  Court  Square  in  Boston,  where 
Young's  Hotel  now  stands.  They  had  four  rooms  in  the 
third  story  of  the  rough  hewn  granite  structure,  called  Tu- 
dor's  Building.  The  architecture  was  ponderous,  with  great 
beetling  hoods  of  projecting  stone  over  the  low,  broad  and 
deep  windows,  doors  and  eaves.  The  original  dark  color  of 
the  granite,  which  age  had  stained  with  moss  and  smoke, 
gave  uniformity  to  its  somewhat  gloomy  appearance.  It  im- 
pressed one  as  picturesque,  but  repulsive.  The  antiquated 
building  had  witnessed  many  changes  in  its  neighborhood, 
but  there  had  been  no  changes  in  its  own  perpetual  frown. 

Three  of  the  rooms  of  the  office  suite  opened  into  a  fourth 
one  on  three  of  its  sides.  The  occupant  firm  were  gentlemen 
and  lawyers  of  the  old  school,  devoted  to  their  profession, 
punctilious  in  the  observance  of  professional  courtesy,  and 
exact  in  the  knowledge  and  administration  of  the  common  and 
statute  law.  In  their  eyes  a  breach  of  the  laws  of  courtesy 
was  no  less  culpable  than  a  breach  of  the  criminal  law.  Their 
bearing  towards  students  was  affable,  without  familiarity. 

The  first  room  was  used  for  the  reception  of  clients  and 
was  in  charge  of  a  student.  On  the  left  was  the  room  of  Mr. 
Hallett  and  his  son.  In  front  was  the  room  of  Mr.  Thomas 
and  another  student,  and  the  room  on  the  right  was  for  stu- 
dents. Judge  Thompson  was  the  student  in  charge  of  the 
reception  room,  and  he  held  the  position  for  a  long  time. 
His  native  courtesy  and  magnetic  amiability  adapted  him  to 
the  duties  of  receiving  clients  and  gathering  the  facts  of 
their  cases.  He  naturally  became  the  favorite  with  both 
clients  and  witnesses.  The  business  was  transacted  with 
uniformity.  Students  were  required  to  make  the  briefs  with, 
case  authorities  in  support  of  each  point,  and  to  give  the 
names  of  the  witnesses  and  state  briefly  their  testimony  to 
the  respective  parts  of  the  suit. 

While  Judge  Thompson  was  clever  at  all  parts  of  the 
work,  he  excelled  in  adjusting  and  applying  the  principles 
of  law  to  the  testimony,  avoiding  unnecessary  details  of  irrel- 


132  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

evant  matters.  For  most  of  the  cases,  the  brief,  with  a  stu- 
dent in  attendance,  was  the  guide  in  the  conduct  of  the  trial. 
In  that  way  a  very  large  law  business  was  accomplished  with 
the  least  amount  of  labor  possible. 

For  the  noon  hour  the  office  business  was  suspended ;  the 
strictness  of  office  rule  was  relaxed  and  the  students'  room 
was  given  up  to  mirth  and  recreation.  At  such  times  it  was 
Thompson's  wit  that  outshone  all  others.  But  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  say  this  to  those  who  ever  knew  him.  Yet  even  in  its 
wildest  moments  his  merriment  was  always  of  a  kindly  nature, 
and  was  never  meant  to  wound  or  offend  an  antagonist. 

After  admission  to  the  Bar  he  remained  awhile  with  Mr. 
Hallett  in  discharge  of  the  duties  of  Assistant  District  At- 
torney, conducting  preliminary  hearings  before  the  United 
States  Commissioners  and  the  Grand  Jury  while  Mr.  Hallett 
held  office.  In  that  practice  Judge  Thompson  became  pro- 
ficient in  shipping  and  in  Admiralty  jurisprudence,  and  ac- 
quired his  taste  for  that  branch  of  the  law.  It  was  that  which 
probably  led  him  to  remove  to  the  seaport  of  Gloucester, 
when  he  began  his  successful  practice  there. 

But  it  seems  he  never  wholly  forgot  the  happy  student 
days,  and  when  the  grave  mantle  of  the  Judge  rested  its 
weight  of  dignity  upon  his  shoulders,  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  long  drawn  tediousness  and  responsibitity  of  important 
trials,  he  would  often  spend  his  noon  recess  in  humorous  sal- 
lies with  some  old  friend  of  student  days,  and  at  '  time  up,' 
put  on  the  court  harness  with  appearance  of  renewed  strength 
for  the  work. 

You  ask  for  some  anecdotes  remembered.  The  business  be- 
came, as  you  will  have  perceived,  hard  work  of  the  routine 
class ;  and  odd  things  happened  every  hour  and  strange 
events  so  common  that  no  one  stood  out  in  memory  as  more 
prominent  than  others.  As  to  witticisms,  his  whole  career 
sparkles  with  his  vivid  fancies ;  and  generations  of  Essex 
lawyers  will  pass  away  before  the  relations  of  his  bright  say- 
ings will  cease  to  be  heard  in  the  solicitors'  room  of  the  Court 
House." 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  133 

Mr.  Thompson  came  to  Gloucester  in  May,  1857,  and  it 
was  his  home  from  that  time  until  his  death. 

It  is  the  custom  for  the  lawyers  in  the  towns  and  small 
cities  of  the  Commonwealth  to  engage  in  a  general  practice 
of  the  profession  ;  to  do  all  kinds  of  office  work  and  try  cases 
in  the  Police  Courts,  before  Trial  Justices,  and  in  the  Supe- 
rior and  Supreme  Judicial  Courts.  Gloucester  being  at  a 
distance  from  a  shire  town,  Mr.  Thompson's  court  business 
for  the  first  few  years  was  confined  to  the  local  Court  of 
Gloucester,  and  to  the  Justice  Courts  in  neighboring  towns. 

He  took  a  great  delight  in  trying  cases  in  the  country  vil- 
lages, and  many  anecdotes  are  related  of  amusing  incidents 
in  these  trials. 

In  a  short  time  he  commenced  the  trial  of  cases  before  the 
higher  tribunals,  and  for  many  years  before  his  appointment 
to  the  Bench,  he  had  a  large  practice  in  all  the  courts.  He 
was  a  successful  advocate,  and  a  leading  lawyer  in  the  county. 
From  the  interesting  account  by  Mr.  Wyman  of  his  student 
days,  it  is  evident  he  was  busy  in  his  studies  and  obtained 
practical  knowledge  which  was  very  serviceable  to  him  in 
his  life  work.  He  was  well  grounded  in  the  common  law 
which  is  the  great  foundation  for  success  at  the  Bar.  In- 
deed, without  a  thorough  education  in  the  great  principles 
of  jurisprudence,  no  one  can  hope  for  eminence  in  the  pro- 
fession. A  lawyer  with  a  sound  and  even  balanced  mind, 
and  an  accurate  knowledge  of  these  principles,  is  well 
equipped  for  his  work.  The  importance  of  a  good  education 
in  the  principles  of  the  law,  which  should  be  acquired  in  stu- 
dent days,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  When  engaged  in 
the  general  practice  of  the  law,  but  little  opportunity  is  af- 
forded for  regular  study.  However  proficient  a  man  may 
become  in  the  knowledge  of  decided  cases,  he  will  be  often 
compelled,  especially  in  the  more  important  causes,  to  fall 
back  upon  his  knowledge  of  principles. 

Mr.  Thompson's  success  was  largely  due  to  his  even  and 
well  balanced  mind,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
the  common  law.     There  are  but  few  cases  of  extraordinary 


134  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

interest  in  a  practice  like  that  of  Mr.  Thompson,  yet  many- 
involving  the  niceties  of  the  law,  and  requiring  great  ability 
and  skill  in  their  presentation.  Mr.  Thompson  was  engaged 
in  many  of  the  most  important  trials  of  his  time,  and  by  his 
learning,  skill,  courage,  and  manners,  earned  the  distinction 
of  being  a  successful  lawyer. 

The  duties  and  efforts  of  the  profession  are  not  fully  un- 
derstood by  the  community  at  large.     There  exists  a  some- 
what popular  impression,  that  a  contest  in  the  courts  consists 
of  a  struggle  between  opposing  counsel  for  personal  suprem- 
acy by  use  of  any  means  they  can  employ  to  that  end ;  and 
that  verdicts  are  too  often  rendered  on  the  side  of  the  stronger 
and  more  unscrupulous  attorney.     This  is  untrue,  and  tends 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  profession.     It  should  be  remembered, 
that  most  every  contested  case  has  two  honest  sides  to  it ;  each 
side  has  its  law  and  facts,  and  the  case  must  be  decided,  under 
the  law,  by  a  preponderance  of  evidence,  to  be  determined  by 
an  impartial  court.     In  the  barbarous  ages,  when  there  were 
no  tribunals  for  the  trial  of  disputed  cases,  each  party  in  a 
dispute  asserted  his  claim  by  force ;  and  the  early  dawn  of 
civilization  is  characterized  by  the  establishment,  by  law,  of 
tribunals  to  settle  peaceably,  all  controversies  between  parties. 
They  were  at  first  rude  and  governed  by  no  fixed  rules,  but 
with  the  advance  of  society,  courts  were  constituted  with 
rules,  over  which  men  of  superior  knowledge  and  character 
were  called  upon  to  preside,  who  would  command  the  respect  of 
litigants  ;  to  which  courts  contesting  parties  were  required 
to  present  their  claims  and  grievances  for  adjudication.    But 
the  trouble  and  disorders  on  the  trials,  occasioned  by   the 
presentation  of  their  claims  by  the  parties  themselves,  in- 
flamed by  partisan  passion,  and  with  but  little  regard  for 
their  opponents  or  the  court,  led  to  the  employment  of  men 
instructed  in  the  law  to  present  for  the  parties  their  respec- 
tive claims.     This  was  a  most  important  step  in  the  cause  of 
justice.     Any  one  who  has  had  experience  with  a  jury  can 
well  conceive  of  the  difficulties  on  a   trial,   if  the   parties, 
many  of  them  ignorant  in  the  law,  should  try  their  own  cases. 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  135 

It  is  of  benefit  to  parties  and  to  society,  that  men  learned 
in  the  law  should  manage  the  causes  in  the  courts.  It  is  the 
duty  of  a  lawyer,  and  it  is  a  responsible  one,  to  present  upon 
a  trial  in  a  clear  and  intelligent  manner  the  facts  upon  his 
side  of  the  case,  to  detect  and  expose  any  fallacies,  and  win- 
now any  facts  presented  upon  the  other  side,  and  to  enforce 
by  argument  the  weight  of  the  facts  proved.  It  may  be  said 
that  if  this  is  so,  yet  that  the  decision  of  a  case  may  be  in- 
fluenced by  the  superior  ability  of  the  counsel  on  one  side. 
This  is  true,  but  does  not  the  strong  man  have  the  advantage 
in  all  the  affairs  of  life.  But  it  may  also  be  said  that  all 
lawyers  do  not  perform  their  duty  as  has  been  stated,  and 
that  some  attempt,  by  artful  perversions  of  the  facts  and  by 
digging  pitfalls  for  the  unwary,  to  obtain  verdicts.  This  is 
true,  but  such  attempts  are  sure  to  fail  before  the  keen  dis- 
cernment of  the  opposing  counsel  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
court.  I  can  say  with  truth,  that  in  a  somewhat  long  ex- 
perience and  observation  in  the  courts,  the  most  successful, 
as  they  have  been  the  most  respected,  members  of  the  Bar, 
have  been  those  distinguished  for  their  fairness  and  manli- 
ness in  the  trials  of  causes.  One  who  attempts  to  practice 
by  arts  and  chicanery,  not  only  finds  his  level  with  the  Bar, 
but  with  the  juries  and  judges,  and  is  consigned  to  the  disrep- 
utable class  known  as  "  pettifoggers." 

No  one  was  more  just  and  honorable  in  his  practice  than 
Mr.  Thompson.  He  prepared  his  cases  with  great  care,  and 
was  prudent  in  the  examination  of  witnesses.  His  addresses 
to  the  jury  were  very  effective.  He  relieved  the  tediousness 
of  an  argument  upon  the  evidence  by  frequent  sallies  of  wit 
and  humor.  He  was  always  respectful  to  the  Court  and 
rarely,  in  the  most  exciting  trials,  uttered  a  word  which 
could  wound  the  feelings  of  the  opposing  counsel.  His  im- 
perturbable good  nature  was  always  in  the  ascendant. 

In  1871  and  1872  Mr.  Thompson  was  elected  by  his  fellow 
citizens  of  Gloucester,  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
General  Court.  He  was  appointed  on  important  committees, 
and  took  an  active  and  influential  part  in  the  proceedings  of 


136  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

that  body.  He  was  very  popular  with  his  associates,  and 
his  occasional  speeches  were  listened  to  with  attention.  At 
one  session  a  petition  was  presented  for  leave  to  sell  the  old 
South  Church  property  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and 
Milk  streets  in  Boston.  It  was  thoroughly  discussed.  The 
property  had  become  very  valuable  for  business  purposes. 
The  great  value  of  it  in  the  market  was  strongly  urged  by 
the  petitioners.  The  opposition  regarded  it  almost  a  sacri- 
lege to  tear  down  the  old  South  Church,  with  its  intensely 
interesting  history  antedating  the  Revolution.  Mr.  Thomp- 
son was  strongly  opposed  to  the  granting  of  the  petition. 
He  denounced  the  scheme  of  the  petitioners  in  an  earnest  and 
eloquent  speech  in  which  he  said,  referring  to  the  money 
value  of  the  property,  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  did  not  know  before 
that  land  had  got  to  be  so  high  in  Boston  that  the  Lord  can- 
not afford  to  own  a  corner  lot."  The  effect  of  this  can  be 
well  imagined. 

In  1874,  after  a  severe  contest,  Mr.  Thompson  was  elected 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  Con- 
gress. He  earned  an  excellent  reputation  in  that  body,  in 
which  were  many  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  country.  He  was 
appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  go  to  Florida  and  make 
investigations  on  the  spot,  regarding  the  vote  of  that  State  in 
the  Presidential  election.  It  was  a  most  important  mission. 
He  performed  this  duty  with  ability  and  impartiality.  He 
was  also  an  influential  member  of  a  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  and  report  the  facts  in  certain  disputed  elections 
to  the  House.  He  performed  these  duties  in  such  a  manner 
as  commanded  the  respect  of  his  political  opponents. 

At  the  close  of  the  term  for  which  he  had  been  elected, 
he  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  which  he  continued  until  his 
appointment  to  the  Bench  of  the  Superior  Court  in  1885. 
From  that  time  until  his  death,  he  was  engaged  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  that  office.  The  manner  in  which 
he  performed  these  duties  cannot  be  better  expressed  than 
in  the  language  of  an  Associate  upon  the  Bench  to  the  Bar 
of  Boston  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Thompson.     He  said,  "  As  a 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  137 

judge,  his  conduct  for  impartiality,  independence  and  integ- 
rity was  above  all  praise.  The  high  and  the  low,  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  humblest  and  the  proudest,  stood  upon  the 
same  level  before  him :  and  to  all  alike,  so  far  as  he  could 
control  the  final  decisions  of  the  court,  even-handed  justice 
was  meted  out." 

Mr.  Thompson  was  always  interested  in  the  political  ques- 
tions of  the  day,  and  although  he  held  decided  opinions,  yet 
he  was  very  tolerant  of  the  views  of  those  who  differed  with 
him.  His  general  reading  was  extensive,  and  he  was  espec- 
ially interested  in  the  reading  of  English  literature.  But  few 
of  his  public  addresses  were  ever  printed.  His  address  be- 
fore the  Essex  County  Agricultural  Society,  in  1883,  is  well 
written  and  shows  much  thought  on  the  subject  he  had 
chosen.  He  was  generous  to  a  fault,  and  had  always  ready 
sympathy  for  the  unfortunate.  Few  men  with  his  income 
and  means  have  left  a  larger  legacy  of  valueless  notes  given 
for  money  loaned  at  different  times  by  Mr.  Thompson  in  the 
vain  hope  that  he  might  save  friends  from  financial  disaster. 

There  was  found  in  his  private  desk  at  home  after  his  death, 
a  printed  rule  of  conduct  which  expressed  the  religion  of  his 
life.     It  was  in  the  following  words  : 

"  I  expect  to  pass  through  this  life  but  once.  If,  therefore, 
there  is  any  kindness  I  can  show,  or  any  good  thing  I  can  do 
to  any  fellow-being,  let  me  do  it  now.  Let  me  not  defer  it 
or  neglect  it,  for  I  shall  not  pass  this  way  again." 

But  it  was  in  social  life  that  Mr.  Thompson's  qualities 
shone  with  the  greatest  brilliancy.  With  a  good  degree  of 
culture  and  knowledge  of  affairs — a  remarkable  memory — 
a  keen,  discriminating  mind  and  most  felicitous  manners,  he 
was  always  listened  to  with  the  greatest  pleasure  and  admira- 
tion. 

No  one  was  truer  or  stronger  in  his  personal  friendships, 
or  more  beloved  for  his  kindness,  especially  to  the  younger 
members  of  his  profession,  to  whom  he  gave  hearty  words 
of  encouragement,  and  in  whose  welfare  and  success  he  al- 
ways took  a  deep  interest. 


138  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

He  was  most  happy  in  all  his  family  relations,  and  de- 
lighted in  the  joys  and  peace  of  his  home. 

The  last  year  of  his  life  was,  a  continual  struggle  with  a 
malady  which  was  gradually  weakening  both  body  and  mind, 
yet  until  the  last,  he  indulged  in  the  hope  of  resuming  his 
labors.  But  his  work  on  earth  was  finished — the  drama  of 
life  closed,  and  his  spirit,  the  spirit  of  a  noble  and  just  man, 
returned  to  God  who  gave  it. 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  I  respectfully  re- 
quest that  this  memorial  and  a  minute  of  these  proceedings 
be  entered  upon  the  records  of  this  Court. 

Mr.  Elbridge  T.  Burley,  President  of  the  Bar  Associa- 
tion, seconded  the  motion  that  these  proceedings  be 
entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court,  in  the  following 
words : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — If  sincerity,  self-control, 
energy,  liberality,  courage  of  convictions,  a  considerate  and 
just  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  and  an  enlightened,  sen- 
sitive and  never  failing  conscience  are  the  leading  essential 
characteristics  of  manhood  in  its  highest  sense,  Charles  P. 
Thompson  was  one  of  nature's  noblemen.  And  whatever  of 
success  he  achieved  in  life  is  due,  I  think,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, to  those  traits  of  his  character. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  him  quite  intimately  for 
many  years,  and  for  his  friendship  and  many  virtues  I  trust 
I  shall  ever  cherish  his  memory  with  a  most  affectionate 
regard. 

Without  intending  in  the  least  to  disparage  his  judicial 
career,  I  cannot  but  think  he  will  be  best  and  longest  remem- 
bered by  this  Bar,  as  one  of  its  most  active  members,  and,  if 
there  is  given  something  of  latitude  under  the  license  of 
eulogy,  still  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  he  was  one  of  the 
great  and  gifted  lawyers  of  his  time. 

He  was,  however,  much  more  than  ordinary,  and  was  al- 
ways equal  to  his  best  efforts  and  to  all  the  responsibilities 
he  assumed.    Possessed   of   a  good  knowledge  of  men  and 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  139 

the  practical  side  of  affairs,  and  of  that  sound  intuitive  in- 
sight, misnamed  common-sense,  he  was  not  easily  misled  or 
deceived.  He  was  prudent  in  counsel,  a  courteous,  manly 
and  fearless  antagonist,  and  a  faithful  and  effective  advocate, 
adorning  his  forensic  efforts  with  an  abundant  flow  of  wit 
and  humor.  His  influence  on  this  Bar,  while  one  of  its 
active  members,  was  elevating ;  for  his  professional  and  per- 
sonal example  was  an  inspiration ;  and  to  the  credit  and 
honor  of  this  Bar,  be  it  said,  he  was  respected  and  beloved  by 
us  all. 

But  he  was  much  more  than  the  good  and  respected 
lawyer  ;  he  was  a  most  devoted  husband,  a  loving  and  indul- 
gent father,  a  warm  and  steadfast  friend,  alike  in  sunshine 
and  storm,  and  a  most  exemplary  citizen. 

As  he  was,  for  several  years,  one  of  the  associate  Justices 
of  this  Court,  it  may  not  become  me  to  speak  in  this  presence 
of  his  judicial  qualities,  but  1  venture  only  far  enough  to  say 
that  the  Bar  of  the  Commonwealth  did  not  fail  to  recognize 
in  him  that  sterling  uprightness,  without  which  men  would 
be  commissioned  as  judges,  in  vain. 

It  is  most  fitting  that  Bench  and  Bar  should  cease  from 
their  labors  to  pay  tributes  of  respect  to  our  worthy  and  hon- 
ored dead,  and  I  heartily  second  the  motion  addressed  to 
your  Honors  by  our  memorialist. 

Mr.  Daniel  Saunders  spoke  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — We  all  know  how  tran- 
sitory is  the  reputation  of  any  lawyer,  however  eminent  he 
may  have  been  in  his  life  time.  There  remains  no  record  of 
his  work  however  great  and  learned  he  may  have  been,  or 
however  brilliant  his  eloquence  in  the  presentation  of  his 
clients'  causes  to  the  Court  or  jury.  When  the  generation 
that  knows  him  and  his  work  has  passed  away,  he  is  forgotten 
or  known  only  by  tradition.  For  this  reason  the  custom  of  the 
Essex  Bar,  to  present  to  the  Court  fitting  memorials  of  de- 
parted brothers  who  have  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
capacity  and  integrity  in  their  profession,  and  to  ask  that 


140  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

they   may  be  preserved  in  the  records  of  the  court  where 
they  have  achieved  their  success,  is  fit  and  proper. 

For  nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Thompson  has  been  known, 
honored  and  beloved  in  Essex  County,  as  few  men  of  any 
profession  have  been.  I  remember  well  his  first  coming 
among  us;  his  cheery  brightness,  his  delightful  and  witty 
conversational  powers,  and  his  gracious  manners  gave  him 
a  welcome  which  ripened  into  lasting  friendships.  He  at 
once  made  a  place  for  himself  at  the  Bar,  which  he  held 
during  life  ;  and  the  confidence,  respect  and  love  which  was 
given  him  on  early  acquaintance,  grew  and  strengthened  as 
the  years  went  by.  Genial  as  he  was  by  nature,  generous, 
by  inclination,  most  charitably  tolerent  of  the  faults  and 
short  comings  of  others,  yet  with  himself  he  was  stern  and 
inflexible  in  the  performance  of  what  he  considered  duty.  I 
have  known  him  intimately  since  he  first  came  among  us, 
and  have  been  with  him,  as  associate  or  opposing  counsel  in 
many  cases,  and  know  how  keenly  sensitive  he  was  lest  any 
neglect  of  his  might  prejudice  the  rights  of  those  he  repre- 
sented. The  great  care  and  attention  which  he  gave  to  busi- 
ness entrusted  to  him,  richly  merited  the  success  which  he 
attained,  and  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  his  clients. 
While  full  of  wit  and  humor  which  added  zest  to  his  conver- 
sation and  pleasure  to  all  his  listeners,  there  was  an  undercur- 
rent of  reverence  for  things  sacred,  and  for  the  virtues  of 
the  Christian  religion  which  he  practised  if  not  preached. 
With  all  his  joyous  nature,  there  was  beneath  the  surface  a 
serious  contemplative  mind,  which  looked  upon  life  as  given 
not  merely  for  his  own  happiness  and  pleasure,  but  for  the 
conscientious  discharge  of  duty  to  others  ;  and  when  life 
ceased  to  give  him  power  to  perform  what  he  considered  to 
be  his  duty,  it  no  longer  had  any  charm  for  him.  Knowing 
him  intimately  as  I  did  for  more  than  thirty  years,  1  believe 
his  last  act,  when  long  illness  had  weakened  a  strong  mind, 
and  reason  had  given  place  to  phantasm,  was  governed  by 
the  same  sense  of  right  and  duty  which  had  controlled 
his  whole  life. 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  141 

For  more  than  a  generation  he  went  in  and  out  among  us  ; 
known  of  all  men  as  generous  to  a  fault,  scrupulous  in  the 
performance  of  every  duty ;  truthful  in  all  his  relations ; 
honorable  in  every  action  ;  while  at  the  Bar  trusted  by  the 
Courts,  and  when  upon  the  Bench  looked  up  to  and  esteemed 
by  the  Bar.  He  was  loved  b}r  his  friends  ;  enemies  he  had 
none,  and  was  honored  and  respected  by  all.  No  higher 
praise  can  be  spoken  of  him  than  the  record  of  the  life  he  left 
behind  him.  When  we  go  to  our  rest,  happy  will  it  be,  if 
we  leave  behind  us  a  record  as  fair  and  pure  as  his  ;  a  record 
in  which  any  errors  of  life  will  be  forgotten  in  the  memory 
of  its  great  and  crowning  virtues. 

Mr.  Henry  P.  Moulton  addressed  the  court  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — The  death  of  Judge 
Thompson  brought  to  all  who  knew  him  a  sense  of  personal 
loss  to  an  unusual  degree.  And  this  is  especially  true,  not 
only  of  those  who  were  his  lifelong  friends,  but  also  of  those 
of  us  who  entered  the  profession  when  he  was  in  the  vigor 
of  his  manhood,  and  all  of  whose  recollections  of  practice 
down  to  the  time  of  his  death  are  associated  with  him.  He 
will  be  remembered  as  a  leading  lawyer  of  this  county  ;  he 
will  be  remembered  as  a  learned  and  upright  judge,  and  of 
his  sayings  those  will  remain  longest  in  memory  which  illus- 
trate the  peculiar  gift  of  humor  with  which  he  was  endowed. 

But  I  think  that  any  man  would  make  a  mistake,  who, 
listening  to  Judge  Thompson's  genial  conversation  and  see- 
ing only  the  face  that  he  wore  to  the  world,  would  think  that 
thereby  he  knew  the  man.  The  real  man  it  was  harder  to 
know,  not  on  account  of  any  concealment,  but  because  of  a 
certain  sensitiveness  which  I  think  was  characteristic  of  him 
through  life.  I  remember  hearing  him  say,  years  ago,  in  the 
course  of  an  argument  to  a  jury,  emphatically  and  impressive- 
ly, "  So  long  as  I  live  I  expect  to  be  engaged  in  the  perform- 
ance of  present  duty."  It  seems  to  me  that  that  was  a  guiding 
principle  with  Judge  Thompson  throughout  the  whole  of  his 
life.     No  man  was  more  unselfish  than  he  ;  no  man  recog- 


142  CHABLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

nized  more  strongly  the  claims  that  others  had  upon  him,  or 
devoted  himself  more  thoroughly  to  the  performance  of  the 
duties  that  he  felt  were  obligatory  upon  him,  and  when 
Judge  Thompson  died,  a  great,  strong,  hearty  and  unselfish 
personality  went  out  of  the  world. 

Of  course  such  men  are  missed.  We  meet  them  too  sel- 
dom in  the  course  of  our  own  journeys  through  life  not  to 
deplore  their  loss,  and  for  many  years  the  loss  of  Judge 
Thompson  will  be  felt  at  the  Essex  Bar. 

Mr.  William  H.  Niles  spoke  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — I  should  not  be  true  to 
my  feelings  if  I  did  not  here  express  my  sincere  concurrence 
in  all  that  has  been  said. 

Mr.  Thompson  came  to  the  Bar  many  years  before  I  was 
admitted,  but  when  I  came  I  early  learned,  when  I  was  in 
doubt  or  anxious  as  to  my  duty,  to  go  to  him  for  instruction 
and  encouragement,  for  certain  it  was  that  no  one  ever  went 
to  him  without  finding  a  safe  and  faithful  guide  and  helper. 

There  is  scarcely  a  young  lawyer  at  our  bar  who  has  not 
seen  his  great  and  noble  heart ;  who  has  not  felt  his  warm 
and  generous  spirit,  and  has  not  been  to  him  and  found  an 
inexhaustible  reservoir  of  strength,  of  purity,  of  noble,  lofty 
character,  and  a  fervor  and  sweetness  of  temper  that  never 
failed. 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  say  more.  You  who  knew  him  so 
well  feel  more  than  any  words  of  mine  can  express,  and  I 
close  with  the  expression  of  a  belief  that  the  young  men  at 
our  Bar,  whether  looking  to  the  head  or  the  heart,  to  a  public, 
professional,  or  private  life,  will  wait  long  before  finding  a 
purer,  sweeter,  or  nobler  example  than  they  have  in  our  late 
lamented  friend  and  brother. 

Mr.  Frank  C.  Richardson  addressed  the  court  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  and  Brethren  op  the 
Bar  : — It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  speak,  because  I  am  con- 
scious of  my  inability  to  express  myself  satisfactorily,  and  yet 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  143 

I  should  reproach  myself  if  I  allowed  these  exercises  to  close 
without  declaring  my  respect  and  love  for  him  in  whose 
memory  we  have  met.  I  am  glad  that  I  am  permitted  pub- 
licly to  speak  of  his  nobility  of  character.  I  had  known 
Judge  Thompson  for  many  years.  My  earliest  recollection 
of  him  is  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  when  he  came  to  my 
native  town  to  conduct  a  trial  before  the  local  Justice.  He 
was  then  young  and  brilliant,  and  I  remember  his  great  pop- 
ularity with  the  people  of  that  vicinity,  which  continued 
throughout  his  life.  He  had  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
people  to  a  remarkable  degree.  In  a  recent  conversation 
with  the  Hon.  John  Prince,  who  has  resided  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  for  a  long  time,  he  said  that  Judge  Thompson  when 
in  Congress  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  classes  and  all 
parties.  I  had  known  him  as  a  public  man,  but  my  intimate 
acquaintance  with  him  began  in  1879  when  I  entered  his 
office  as  a  student,  where  I  remained  until  his  appointment 
as  a  Justice  of  this  Court  in  1885.  During  this  time  I  saw 
him  daily  and  I  cannot  recall  in  all  that  time  a  single  unkind 
word  spoken.  I  appreciated  his  intellectual  gifts,  I  admired 
his  sparkling  wit  and  his  ability  as  a  lawyer  and  an  advocate, 
but  that  which  endeared  him  to  me  above  all  else  was  his 
friendliness  and  generosity.  His  sympathy  knew  no  bounds, 
and  his  hand  was  ever  ready  to  assist  the  poor  and  unfortu- 
nate. His  life  was  crowded  with  noble  and  generous  deeds. 
The  last  conversation  I  had  with  him  was  on  last  Christmas 
morning  at  his  home.  He  was  too  weak  to  leave  his  room. 
He  spoke  of  his  work  as  a  lawyer,  and  said  that  it  was  a  great 
satisfaction  to  him  to  remember  that  all  his  relations  with 
members  of  the  Bar  had  been  pleasant,  and  of  their  courtesy 
and  fairness  towards  him.  His  last  thoughts  were  of  others, 
and  his  last  words  generous  and  loving.  This  noble,  honest, 
manly  man  is  dead.  His  death  leaves  a  void  that  cannot  be 
filled.  Cannot  we  truly  say  of  him  that  which  the  great 
dramatist  makes  one  of  his  characters  say  of  another, 

"  His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him  that  nature  might  stand  up, 
And  say  to  all  the  world 
This  was  a  man." 


144  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

Justice  Sherman  replied  as  follows  : — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — When  I  came  to  this  bar  in 
1858  I  first  met  Mr.  Thompson,  who  had  preceded  me,  hav- 
ing taken  up  his  residence  in  Gloucester  the  year  before. 

From  that  time  until  1868,  when  I  was  elected  to  the  office 
of  District  Attorney,  I  met  him  occasionally.  For  the  next 
fourteen  years  we  met  frequently  in  the  civil  and  criminal 
Courts,  more  frequently  in  the  latter,  as  he  had  a  large 
docket  in  that  Court. 

After  I  became  Attorney  General,  in  1883,  we  met  often, 
especially  in  the  summer  months,  I,  some  years  prior,  having 
taken  up  my  residence  in  Gloucester  during  the  summer. 

He  was  appointed  to  the  bench  in  1885,  and  I  in  1887, 
after  which  time  our  relations  were  very  intimate. 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  in  the  great  number  of 
cases  we  tried  as  opposing  counsel,  there  never  was  an  un- 
pleasant word  between  us. 

I  was  once  asked  by  a  former  Justice  of  this  Court,  only 
slightly  acquainted  with  Mr.  Thompson,  why  it  was  that  I 
manifested  such  great  respect  for  and  confidence  in  him.  I 
answered,  "  Because  he  is  such  a  royal  good  fellow  and  so 
honorable  in  his  practice, — if  he  should  tell  me  that  I  made 
an  agreement  a  year  ago  about  the  disposition  of  a  criminal 
case,  of  which  I  had  no  recollection,  I  have  such  implicit  con- 
fidence in  his  integrity,  I  should  carry  out  the  agreement  ac- 
cording to  his  understanding." 

As  a  lawyer  he  had  a  good  degree  of  success,  not  in  the 
financial  sense,  but  in  giving  to  a  large  number  of  his  fellow 
citizens  the  best  of  advice  without  charge  or  compensation, 
and  in  giving  to  a  large  clientage  good  ability  and  faithful 
services,  with  moderate  charges. 

He  will  be  gratefully  remembered  by  the  citizens  of  Cape 
Ann  as  a  lawyer  who  did  not  stir  up  strife,  incite  neighbor 
against  neighbor,  nor  encourage  litigation  ;  he  was  a  genuine 
peace  maker,  and  literally  kept  the  attorney's  oath, — '  He 
would  do  no  falsehood,  nor  consent  to  the  doing  of  any  in 
Court ;  he  did  not  wittingly  or  willingly  promote  or  sue  any 


CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON.  145 

false,  groundless  or  unlawful  suit ;  he  delayed  no  man  for 
lucre  or  malice  ;  but  he  conducted  himself  in  the  office  of  an 
attorney  within  the  Courts  according  to  the  best  of  his 
knowledge  and  discretion,  and  with  all  good  fidelity  as  well 
to  the  Courts  as  to  his  client.' 

Judge  Thompson,  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  of 
Congress,  established  a  reputation  as  a  man  of  ability  and 
integrity. 

Mr.  Justice  Thompson  was  a  popular  Judge  ;  naturally 
such  with  his  genial  disposition,  pleasant  ways,  ready  wit, 
and  love  of  anecdote,  he  could  not  be  otherwise  ;  he  carried 
about  with  him  wherever  he  went  a  large  amount  of  sunshine. 
The  lawyers,  court  officers  and  jurors,  were  glad  to  meet  him 
in  or  out  of  Court. 

With  his  associates  upon  the  bench  he  was  considerate  and 

companionable. 

"  None  knew  him  but  to  love  him, 
None  named  him  but^to  praise." 

He  possessed  a  sensitive  conscience;  he  wanted  to  do 
right,  administer  exact  justice,  and  he  was  determined  to  do 
it  in  such  way,  and  with  such  care,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in 
the  mind  of  any  person  as^to  his  purpose  and  motive. 

The  pleasantest  and  happiest  years  of  his  life  were  those 
immediately  preceding  his  last  illness.  He  thoroughly  en- 
joyed his  position  and  work  upon  the  Bench  ;  he  had  a  happy 
home,  with  a  dutiful,  affectionate  and  devoted  wife  ;  his  son 
had  passed  the  anxious  years  of  boyhood  into  manhood  and 
successful  professional  engagement ;  and  a  loving  daughter, 
after  long  and  anxious  years  of  illness,  had  been  restored  to 
health,  and  everything  seemed  propitious  for  the  future,  and 
his  friends  expected  he  would  reach  the  age  of  four  score 
years. 

But  what  seemed  to  us,  who  cannot  understand  the  mys- 
teries of  life  and  death,  a  cruel  fate  decreed  otherwise.  He 
was  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness  by  a  fatal  disease 
which  preyed  upon  both  body  and  mind,  until  it  so  weakened 
the  latter  that  life  to  him  seemed  a  great  burden,  too  great 


146  CHARLES  P.  THOMPSON. 

finally  to  be: endured  longer.  And  as  we  think  how  terribly 
he  suffered  in  those  last  days,  of  the  agony  of  those  last 
hours,  can  we  say  that  perhaps,  after  all,  it  was  not  best? 

While  we  shall  miss  him  and  mourn  his  loss,  we  may  be 
comforted  with  the  thought  of  how  much  better  this  part  of 
the  world  is  on  account  of  his  life  and  example.  He  did 
much  to  make  the  world  better,  to  fill  it  with  sunshine  and 
happiness,  and  he  has  left  behind  him  a  reputation  for 
honesty  and  integrity  as  firm  and  rugged  as  the  rocks  of  the 
Cape  where  he  dwelt. 

As  I  go  to  my  summer  home  by  the  sea,  where  he  so  often 
visited  me,  I  shall  feel  constantly : 

"  He  will  come  no  more, 

That  friend  of  mine  whose  presence  satisfied 
The  thirst  and  hunger  of  my  heart.     Ah  me! 
He  has  forgotten  the  pathway  to  my  door. 
Something  has  gone  from  Nature  since  he  died, 
And  Summer  is  not  Summer,  nor  can  be." 

In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Bar  Association  it 
is  ordered  that  their  memorial  with  a  minute  of  these  proceed- 
ings be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 


«* 


NATHAN  W.  HARMON. 


At  a  session  of  the  Superior  Court  in  Salem,  June  21,  1895, 
Justice  Charles  S.  Lilley  presiding,  the  following  memo- 
rials were  presented  by  Committees  appointed  by  the  Essex 
Bar  Association. 

Mr.  William  S.  Knox  presented  the  following 

Memorial. 

Nathan  Williams  Harmon,  a  member  of  this  bar,  died 
at  Lawrence  on  the  16th  day  of  September,  1887,  in  the  75th 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  born  at  New  Ashford,  in  the  county 
of  Berkshire.  His  ancestors  came  to  this  country  as  early 
as  1635,  and  soon  after  settled  at  Suffield  in  the  valley  of 
the  Connecticut,  from  whence  their  descendants  came  to 
western  Massachusetts. 

His  early  education  was  obtained  at  the  Lanesborough 
Academy  and  at  Stockbridge,  and  he  entered  Williams  Col- 
lege in  the  class  of  1836.  Leaving  college  after  he  had  re- 
mained there  three  years,  he  entered  upon  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  Governor  Briggs,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Berkshire  Bar  in  1839.  He  subsequently  practiced  law 
as  a  partner  of  Governor  Briggs  at  Lanesborough.  He  was 
afterwards  at  Adams,  from  which  place  he  came  to  Lawrence 
in  1845,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
partnership  with  Geo.  P.  Briggs,  who  was  a  son  of  the 
governor. 

It  was  at  Lawrence  that  his  real  life's  work  began  and 
ended.  The  town  had  not  then  been  founded,  and  the 
dam  had  not  been  completed.  From  the  birth  of  what  is 
now  the  city  of  Lawrence  to  the  time  of  his  death,  the 
name  of  Judge  Harmon  was  inseparably  connected  with 
its  growth  and  progress. 

In  the  planning  and  erection  of  its  public  buildings,  the 
laying   out   of  its  streets  and  parks,  in  the    establishment 


148  NATHAN  W.  HARMON. 

and  grading  of  its  public  schools,  and  in  the  preparation 
and  adoption  of  its  charter  as  a  city,  he  took  a  deep  inter- 
est, and  rendered  valuable  practical  services.  He  took  an 
especial  interest  in  the  schools,  and  at  the  first  town  meet- 
ing: held  in  Lawrence  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  school  com- 
mittee,  and  often  afterwards  occupied  a  similar  position. 

At  different  times  he  served  as  City  Solicitor,  and  al- 
ways with  fidelity  and  success.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  in  1857,  and  of 
the  Senate  in  1872,  and  was  influential  as  a  legislator. 
He  held  the  office  of  Assistant  Assessor  of  Internal  Revenue 
during  a  portion  of  the  administrations  of  Lincoln  and 
Johnson,  and  brought  to  the  decision  of  many  novel  ques- 
tions arising  under  the  law  taxing  incomes,  his  learning  and 
training  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  conclusions  were  generally 
upheld  by  those  with  whom  the  final  decision  rested. 

In  1880  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Lawrence  Police 
Court,  and  this  office  he  occupied  continuously  until  he 
resigned  in  1887,  the  year  of  his  death.  He  was  an  able 
judge,  both  of  the  law  and  the  fact,  and  his  judgments  in 
civil  cases  were  rarely  appealed  from.  He  presided  with 
excellent  temper,  and  was  courteous  and  genial  to  all  who 
had  business  in  his  court.  A  sense  of  humor  and  a  vein  of 
merriment  were  in  his  make-up.  A  good  story  and  a 
hearty  laugh  were  always  welcome,  and  many  a  witty 
thrust  at  counsel  or  witness  characterized  his  presence  up- 
on the  bench. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  was  by  nature  endowed  with  a  legal 
mind,  and  without  much  effort  looked  at  legal  questions 
from  the  correct  standpoint.  He  was  a  good  logician,  and 
easily  drew  his  conclusions,  and  applied  principles  to  facts. 
He  was  sound  in  his  opinions,  and  careful  in  his  advice. 
He  was  a  strong  and  determined  fighter  when  stirred,  and 
in  court  had  more  than  ordinary  power  with  the  jury.  In- 
deed, there  were  times,  when  he  was  fully  aroused,  when  he 
would  address  a  jury  with  a  force  and  eloquence  seldom 
excelled  at  the  Essex  Bar.     He  was  a  good  student,  and 


NATHAN   W.   HARMON.  149 

great  general  reader.  He  had  a  most  high  sense  of  honor 
in  dealing  with  the  bench  and  his  brethren  at  the  bar. 

He  was  fond  of  nature,  and  his  days  of  relaxation  were 
spent  by  preference  in  the  wilderness.  He  had  deep  relig- 
ious convictions,  and  was  an  active  and  earnest  member  of 
the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Lawrence  from  its  foun- 
dation until  his  death. 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  I  respectfully  re- 
quest that  this  memorial  and  a  minute  of  these  proceedings 
be  entered  upon  the  records  of  this  court. 

Mr.  William  D.  Northend  said  : — 

Mr.  Harmon  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  this 
County  at  the  same  time  with  my  admission  to  the  Bar. 
For  many  years  until  his  appointment  as  Judge  of  the  Law- 
rence Police  Court,  he  had  a  good  practice  and  showed 
marked  ability  in  the  trials  of  causes.  His  merits  as  a  law- 
yer are  truthfully  described  in  the  memorial  which  has  been 
read,  and  I  respectfully  second  the  motion  that  these  pro- 
ceedings be   entered  upon    the  records  of  this  Court. 


THOMAS  B.  NEWHALL. 


Mr.  Dean  Peabody  presented  the  following 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — On  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  September,  1893,  Thomas  Bancroft  Newhall,  one  of 
the  oldest  members  of  the  Essex  Bar,  departed  this  life. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  on  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  June  last,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  prepare  and  present  to  this  court  a  memorial  of  the  de- 
ceased, and  in  fulfilment  of  the  duty  assigned  it,  that  com- 
mittee, in  behalf  of  the  association,  now  respectfully  asks 
your  Honor's  attention. 

Mr.  Newhall  was  born  in  Lynn,  October  2, 1811.  He  was 
the  son  of  Asa  Tarbell  and  Judith  (Little)  Newhall.  His 
preparatory  education  was  obtained  in  the  schools  of  Lynn, 
and  at  Phillips  Academy  in  Andover.  He  entered  Brown 
University,  and  was  graduated  in  1832. 

He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  John  W.  Proctor  in  South 
Danvers,  with  Sidney  Bartlett  in  Boston,  and  at  the  Harvard 
Law  School.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  March,  1837, 
and  commenced  practice  in  Lynn,  in  the  month  of  April  fol- 
lowing. 

In  announcing  to  the  Bar  at  Worcester  the  death  of  Judge 
Thompson,  the  late  Mr.  Justice  Aldrich  is  reported  to  have 
said: 

"  The  Essex  County  Bar,  from  a  time  far  beyond  the  mem- 
ory of  any  of  us  now  living,  down  to  the  present  day,  has 
been  one  of  the  ablest  in  the  Commonwealth — indeed,  the 
old  Bar  of  Essex  County  contained  some  of  the  giants  of  the 
law  by  whom  the  jurisprudence  of  Massachusetts  was  raised 
to  the  highest  position  of  honor  and  authority,  not  only  with- 
in but  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Commonwealth." 

To  any  one  familiar  with  the  history  and  traditions  of  the 


THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL.  151 

Essex  Bar  for  the  first  half  of  the  present  century,  the  names 
of  Leverett  Saltonstall,  Ruf  us  Choate,  Caleb  Cushing,  Asahel 
Huntington,  Jeremiah  C.  Stickney,  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  Joshua 
H.  Ward  and  Otis  P.  Lord,  will  at  once  occur  among  the 
able,  learned  and  brilliant  lawyers  of  Essex  County  during 
that  period ;  and  when  the  language  of  Judge  Aldrich  is 
applied  to  such  men  it  will  not  appear  extravagant. 

Inspired  by  the  presence  and  example  of  these  great  law- 
yers, Mr.  Newhall  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
with  conscientious  fidelity,  and  continued  uninterruptedly 
for  twelve  years  with  very  marked  success. 

In  1849  the  Lynn  Police  Court  was  established,  and  Mr. 
Newhall  was  appointed  its  justice.  He  at  once  entered  up- 
on the  work  of  organizing  the  Court  and  putting  it  in  prac- 
tical operation.  The  judicial  business  of  the  town  had  prior 
to  that  time  been  conducted  by  magistrates,  who  were  not 
lawyers,  and  who  were,  in  some  instances,  entirely  incompe- 
tent for  the  work.  For  sixteen  years  Mr.  Newhall  performed 
the  work  of  his  office  with  ability,  and  with  great  success. 
But  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  that  office  did  not 
compel  him  to  abandon  his  practice  in  the  higher  Courts, 
which  increased  with  the  growth  of  the  town  and  city. 

Endowed  with  sterling  common  sense,  a  vigorous  and  acute 
mind  and  a  temperament  that  would  endure  long  continued 
mental  work,  he  brought  to  the  study  of  the  law  an  earnest 
and  untiring  devotion.  Blackstone,  Chitty  and  Starkie  were 
his  constant  companions.  The  principles  of  the  common  law, 
he  acquired  and  held  with  a  clear  and  comprehensive   grasp. 

Although  he  had  great  confidence  in  his  own  judgment  of 
what  the  law  ought  to  be,  when  overruled,  he  readily  yielded 
to  the  authority  of  well  considered  judicial  decisions. 

With  the  increase  of  equity  jurisdiction  came  the  neces- 
sity of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  that  govern 
equity  proceedings,  and  to  that  work  Mr.  Newhall  applied 
himself  with  his  accustomed  zeal  and  fidelity.  As  he  was 
a  skilled  pleader  under  the  old  system  of  common  law  pro- 
ceedings, so  he  became  proficient  as  an  equity  pleader  when 


152  THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL. 

the  business  of  his  profession  demanded  it.  He  studied  law 
as  a  science,  and  to  become  master  of  its  principles.  The 
discussion  of  legal  principles  was  always  full  of  interest  to 
him.  He  read  all  the  cases  decided  by  our  supreme  judicial 
court  as  they  appeared,  and  became  familiar  with  the  law  of 
each  case.  No  reading  was  more  interesting  and  attractive 
to  him  than  a  well-considered  legal  opinion.  With  a  mind 
eminently  judicial,  and  enriched  with  the  results  of  careful 
and  discriminating  reading  and  study,  Mr.  Newhall  was  well 
equipped  for  the  highest  order  of  judicial  work. 

A  learned  judge,  a  strong  and  persuasive  advocate,  a  ju- 
dicious and  wise  counsellor,  Mr.  Newhall  did  not  allow  his 
views  of  the  duties  and  amenities  of  public  and  social  life  to 
be  obscured  by  his  devotion  to  professional  work.  He  was 
not  a  mere  lawyer.  He  was  ardently  interested  in  whatever 
tended  to  promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town 
and  city  of  his  birth,  and  to  him  was  granted  the  great  privi- 
lege of  beholding  a  town  of  five  thousand  people  become  a 
city  of  sixty  thousand,  and  the  leading  industry  conducted 
in  little  shops  by  the  wayside,  develop  into  one  of  the  lead- 
ing industries  of  the  country,  prosecuted  in  large  and  expen- 
sive manufactories.  No  one  watched  this  expansion  and 
growth  with  greater  pride  and  pleasure  than  he.  While  he 
never  sought  office,  he  was  always  ready  and  willing  to  per- 
form his  part  in  the  public  service  when  his  fellow-citizens 
called  him.  Whatever  tended  to  promote  the  interests  and 
advancement  of  the  public  schools  received  his  cordial  sup- 
port, and  for  many  years  he  served  his  city  on  its  school 
board.  Not  unlike  most  graduates,  upon  leaving  college  he 
substantially  laid  aside  his  college  books  and  college  studies 
when  he  found  himself  confronted  with  the  labors  and  anxie- 
ties of  an  exacting  profession.  Still  he  retained  enough  of 
the  knowledge  acquired  in  college  of  the  Latin  language  to 
enable  him  to  render  much  valuable  service  to  the  classical 
department  of  the  high  school.  Although  naturally  conser- 
vative he  was  always  ready  to  advocate  and  adopt  any  im- 
provements in   the   methods   of  instruction  in  the  schools, 


THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL.  153 

which  the  experience  and  wisdom  of  the  best  educators  had 
approved. 

He  was  not  an  extensive  reader  of  books,  but  his  tastes 
were  scholarly  and  he  read  good  literature  with  a  lively  ap- 
preciation of  its  treasures.  He  read  the  current  literature  of 
the  day  sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times, 
and  to  understand  the  drift  of  modern  thought  in  politics, 
science,  art  and  religion.  His  reading  was  such  as  to  furnish 
him  with  a  vocabulary  of  apt  words  and  phrases,  and  to  give 
to  his  written  productions  a  chaste  and  pure  style. 

He  maintained  a  youthful  spirit  through  his  entire  life, 
and  in  his  business  relations  with  his  brethren  at  the  Bar  he 
was  always  considerate  and  accommodating.  It  was  a  source 
of  pleasure  to  him  to  advise  and  counsel  young  men  in  the 
profession,  and  he  never  seemed  more  satisfied  with  himself 
than  when  discussing  some  legal  proposition  with  a  young 
brother  who  had  come  to  him  for  his  legal  opinion.  He  gave 
advice  freely  and  cheerfully  to  such,  and  the  only  compensa- 
tion which  he  desired  for  such  service  was  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  his  perplexed  brother  made  happy,  as  he  removed  dif- 
ficulty after  difficulty  from  his  mind. 

The  woods  and  the  fields  and  all  that  makes  the  natural 
world  attractive  and  alluring  were  dear  to  him.  A  ramble 
in  the  forests  or  a  ride  through  some  quiet  and  secluded  by- 
way, afforded  him  great  pleasure.  His  personal  appearance 
was  that  of  a  refined  and  cultivated  gentleman.  His  pres- 
ence was  a  benediction. 

His  religious  faith  was  adopted  after  mature  thought  and 
study.  The  doctrines  preached  by  the  elder  Channing  he 
most  cordially  accepted,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
he  was  identified  with  the  Unitarian  denomination.  While 
he  held  these  views  firmly,  and  intelligently,  he  cultivated 
a  spirit  of  willing  tolerance  and  broad  charity.  He  tried  to 
put  himself  in  the  place  of  others  so  far  as  to  understand 
their  points  of  view  and  to  comprehend  their  motives  and 
spirit,  and,  in  doing  this,  he  usually  learned  to  respect  their 
purposes,  even  if  he  could  not  endorse  either  their  opinions  or 
their  methods. 


154  THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL. 

In  that  faith  and  with  that  spirit,  our  friend  and  brother, 
honored  and  beloved,  dwelt  among  his  kindred  and  went  in 
and  out  before  the  people  for  eighty-two  years. 

May  it  please  your  Honor :  I  now  move,  in  behalf  of  the 
Essex  Bar  Association,  that  this  brief  memorial  be  placed  up- 
on the  records  of  this  Court. 

Mr.  William  H.  Niles  spoke  as  follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — Nearly  three  years  before 
I  was  born,  Thomas  B.  Newhall,  our  honored  friend  and 
brother,  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  County  Bar,  and  had 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  law  in  Lynn. 

He  had  been  thirty  years  in  active  practice  when  I  first 
knew  him,  and  yet  my  acquaintance  with  him  covered  more 
than  twenty-five  years  of  his  subsequent  life.  Of  course  my 
connection  with  him  was  not  as  close  or  intimate  as  was  that 
of  brother  Peabody,  still,  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his 
active  life,  I  met  him  almost  daily,  and  came  to  know  him  well 
and  to  honor  him  most  highly. 

It  was  not  a  difficult  task  to  know  or  to  understand  him. 
He  had  no  mysterious  ways  or  traits.  He  was  easily  ap- 
proached by  the  young  or  the  old,  by  the  rich  or  the  poor  alike. 
He  was  frank,  open  and  outspoken,  and  though  he  was  ex- 
ceptionally mild  and  polite  in  manner,  he  was  direct  and 
emphatic,  so  that  he  never  left  one  in  doubt  as  to  his  mean- 
ing or  position. 

As  a  lawyer  and  gentleman  he  was  of  the  old  school,  able, 
industrious  and  studious.  Always  candid  and  conscientious, 
his  opinion  was  sought  and  safely  followed  by  many  of  our 
wisest  and  best  citizens,  for  his  clientage  was  certainly  one  of 
the  largest  and  best  ever  enjoyed  by  any  lawyer  in  Lynn. 
With  him,  as  has  been  said  of  another,  "The  practice  of  law 
was  indeed  a  profession,"  and  his  presence  and  influence  was 
a  continual  object  lesson  and  incentive  to  young  lawyers  to 
aspire  to  the  noblest  and  best. 

He  was  refined,  dignified  and  scholarly  in  his  personal 
appearance,  and  his  pleasant  voice  and  light,  quick  step  when 


THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL.  155 

nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  were  like  those  of  a  young  man  of 
twenty-five. 

His  conversation  was  at  all  times  so  pure  and  select  that  it 
could  not  offend  the  most  sensitive  ear,  and  his  taste  was  for 
the  plain,  simple  and  unostentatious,  — spurning  all  pomp  and 
hollow  display. 

My  brother  Peabody  has  not  forgotten,  and  I  must  not 
forget,  that  above  all  Mr.  Newhall  was  a  modest  and  a 
truthful  man.  Nothing  was  more  distasteful  to  him  than 
indiscriminate,  fulsome,  or  unmerited  praise.  He  would  have 
us  paint  him  as  he  was,  and  in  this  brief  mention  of  his  life 
and  character  I  have  said  no  more  than  would  be  endorsed  by 
all  who  knew  him  well. 

We  have  asked  the  attention  of  the  Court  to  the  memory 
of  a  distinguished  brother  who  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
profession  in  Lynn,  near  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  who,  at  the 
end  of  his  long  professional  career,  longer  by  far  than  that  ever 
attained  by  any  other  lawyer  now  living  or  whoever  lived  in 
Lynn,  his  place  of  business  at  all  times  to  the  last  being  within 
a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  place  where  he  began  his  profes- 
sional life,  departed  from  us,  leaving  not  one  stain  upon  his 
record  as  a  citizen,  as  a  lawyer,  or  as  a  judge. 

In  view  of  these  facts  I  desire  to  second  the  motion  which 
has  been  made,  that  the  address  presented  be  placed  upon  the 
records  of  this  Court. 

Judge  Rollin  E.  Harmon  said  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — I  desire  also  to  second 
the  resolutions  upon  the  death  of  Judge  Newhall.  This 
meeting  has  for  me  a  special  interest.  By  a  strange  coinci- 
dence, among  the  names  of  those  it  serves  to  commemorate 
are  the  only  three  members  of  the  Bar  with  whom  I  was  ever 
associated,  either  as  student  or  partner. 

Before  I  became  associated  with  Judge  Newhall  I  had  read 
law  in  the  office  of  my  dear  father,  and  had  been  for  a  short 
time  in  the  office  of  brother  Jones.  I  was  there  long  enough 
to  learn  to  respect  his  solid  and  manly  parts  and  to  prize  much 


156  THOMAS  B.   NEWHALL. 

a  friendship  which  continued  until  his  death.  Of  my  father 
you  will  not  expect  me,  nor  can  I  trust  myself  to  speak,  but 
you  will  understand  how  this  meeting  comes  to  have  for  me 
a  grave  and  solemn  interest  which  no  similar  occasion  can 
possibly  have. 

It  is  fitting  to  seek  in  every  way  to  preserve  the  memory 
of  such  men  as  Judge  Newhall.  For  over  fifty  years  he  prac- 
tised law,  in  his  native  town,  and  obtained  the  respect  and 
complete  confidence  of  the  community.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  natural  powers,  clear  in  apprehension,  quick  and  strong 
in  grasp  of  mind,  and  of  excellent  judgment  of  the  relative 
value  of  things,  than  which  there  is  no  better  gift.  He  had 
the  best  collegiate  and  professional  education,  was  a  student 
of  law  all  his  life,  and  enjoyed  no  reading  more.  He  also 
had  great  experience  in  all  the  public  and  private  affairs  and 
business  of  the  community.  He  thus  became  the  best  of 
counsellors,  not  only  in  all  legal  matters  but  in  everything 
requiring  care  and  judgment. 

The  main  value  of  his  life  work  lies  in  the  ability  and 
fidelity  with  which  he  performed  these  duties.  It  was  in  his 
office  work  chiefly  that  I  knew  him.  We  forget,  in  looking 
for  some  brilliant  effort  in  speech,  how  worthy  and  useful  a 
life  work  is  rounded  out  within  the  walls  of  the  office  of 
every  conscientious  lawyer. 

The  manner  and  ease  with  which  he  did  this  work  and  the 
success  which  attended  it,  is  very  remarkable.  He  was  a  great, 
but  not  an  anxious,  caretaker,  bearing  constantly  on  his  mind 
the  interests  of  others,  and  especially  those  of  the  poor  and 
ignorant,  many  of  whom  were  his  clients,  and  whom  he  cared 
for  as  if  his  wards. 

In  his  relations  with  all  men  he  acted  as  if  he  expected 
them  to  act  honestly  and  deal  fairly.  If  advantage  was  pos- 
sible on  a  lower  plane  of  action  he  deemed  it  no  part  of  his 
duty  to  discuss  it  with  his  client,  or  to  distract  and  tempt  him 
by  it. 

He  was  also  very  considerate  and  unselfish  in  his  dealings, 
especially  with  his  clients.      I  cannot  but  think  these  quali- 


THOMAS   B.   NEWHALL.  157 

ties  added  much  to  the  respect  and  confidence  he  inspired  in 
all  to  a  degree,  which,  within  my  observation,  has  never  been 
exceeded. 

His  work  in  the  courts  was  well  done,  but  was  subordi- 
nated to  those  of  the  office,  by  his  own  choice.  He  was  an 
apt  speaker,  keen,  logical  and  pleasing,  but  more  and  more 
the  risks  and  excitement  of  uncertain  causes  grew  distaste- 
ful to  him,  and  he  withdrew  from  them. 

It  is  a  cheering  reflection  that  the  closing  years  of  his  life 
were  full  of  contentment  and  quiet  enjoyment.  He  received 
great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  from  his  work  and  loved  his 
office  as  much  as  any  place  in  the  world.  There  was  to  be 
found  in  it,  also,  much  social  life  and  friendly  intercourse  of 
which  he  was  the  life  and  centre.  It  was  delightful  to  see 
him  straighten  back  in  his  chair,  and  recall  memories  of  his 
law  school  days  under  Judge  Story,  and  of  the  great 
lawyers  of  the  county  and  state,  in  the  first  half  of  the  cen- 
tury, or  of  the  strong  and  quaint  characters  of  his  native 
town. 

His  character  was  mature  and  fixed  when  I  first  came  to 
know  him.  He  had  an  honorable  and  stainless  life  of  the 
utmost  integrity  and  faithfulness ;  yet  such  was  his  modest 
manner,  that  he  exhibited  no  salient  features.  He  practised 
but  did  not  display  the  moral  virtues.  He  seemed  to  live 
wholly  free  from  temptation,  so  far  had  age,  habit  and  high 
character  clarified  the  sources  of  his  action. 

How  thin  and  pale  all  this  seems  beside  the  picture  of 
the  man  ever  in  my  mind,  I  need  not  say.  My  connection 
with  him  was  most  intimate  and  unbroken  during  all  my 
professional  life,  and  inexpressibly  tender  and  grateful  and 
loving  is  my  memory  of  this  best  of  teachers  and  dearest  of 
friends. 


JEREMIAH  P.  JONES. 


Mr.  Ira  A.  Abbott  presented  the  following 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — In  behalf  of  the  Bar  As- 
sociation of  this  county  and  in  observance  of  a  custom  of 
the  Essex  Bar,  I  present  this  memorial  sketch  of  one  of  its 
honored  members  deceased. 

Jeremiah  Pingree  Jones  was  born  in  Wilmot,  Merri- 
mac  County,  N.  H.,  April  23d,  1819.  His  parents  were 
Nathan  Jones,  a  native  of  Sutton,  N.  H.,  and  Mary  Pin- 
gree, his  wife,  born  in  Ipswich,  in  this  county.  His  ances- 
tors on  both  sides,  for  some  generations  back,  were  plain, 
farming  people,  without  any  trace  of  scholarly  or  professional 
blood,  so  far  as  can  be  learned,  yet  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
was  already  determined  to  have  a  collegiate  education  if 
possible.  His  father  could  not  afford  him  much  aid  beyond 
the  common  schools  of  the  town,  but,  with  him,  to  determine 
was  to  do  if  it  lay  within  his  power,  and  he  somehow  man- 
aged to  pursue  the  preparatory  studies  at  the  academies  at 
Gilmanton  and  Meriden  which  enabled  him  to  enter  Dart- 
mouth College  in  the  class  of  1842,  and  in  it  he  graduated 
in  due  course.  In  the  class  with  him  were  the  Honorable 
Lincoln  F.  Brigham  so  lately  deceased,  Gen.  Harrison  C. 
Hobart,  J.  D.  Philbrick,  long  identified  with  the  public 
schools  of  Boston,  and  others  of  note. 

How  severe  was  the  struggle  which  this  long  climb  up  the 
hill  of  learning  cost  him  we  may  partly  gather  from  the 
record  of  his  school  teaching,  then  the  principal  and  perhaps 
still  the  favorite  resource  of  students  of  limited  means. 
His  first  school  was  in  the  winter  of  1836-7,  when  he  was 
only  seventeen  years  old,  and  he  taught  more  or  less  in 
every  succeeding  year  until  the  time  of  his  admission  to  the 
bar. 

Soon  after  his  graduation  he  came  to  Georgetown  in  this 


JEREMIAH   P.   JONES.  159 

county,  where  relatives  of  his  mother  resided,  and  began  the 
study  of  law,  continuing  to  teach  a  part  of  the  time  in  schools 
in  the  vicinity.  He  did  not  attend  any  law  school  but,  ac- 
cording to  the  general  custom  of  the  time,  read  in  the  offices 
of  practising  lawyers,  mainly  with  Jeremiah  P.  Russell,  Esq., 
at  Georgetown,  but  in  part  with  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  Esq.,  at 
Salem.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  September  term, 
1845,  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  at  the  same  time  with 
Hon.  Wm.  D.  Northend  of  Salem,  after  an  examination  by 
Judge  Washburn  of  that  court,  who  personally  attended  to  a 
duty,  as  the  practice  then  was,  of  which  the  Judges  have 
since  been  relieved  by  a  committee  of  the  Bar. 

Mistakenly,  as  it  must  seem  to  us,  he  decided  to  remain  in 
Georgetown,  a  place  where  there  could  have  been  but  little 
prospect  of  professional  advancement.  Nevertheless,  in  that 
limited  field,  he  soon  taught  the  Bar  of  the  county  to  respect 
the  courage,  the  perseverance  and  the  learning  which  he  put 
into  every  cause,  no  matter  how  insignificant,  which  was 
intrusted  to  him.  It  came  to  be  understood  that  he  was 
an  antagonist  by  no  means  to  be  lightly  regarded.  He  had 
none  of  the  graces  of  oratory  and  was  never  even  a  ready 
speaker  but  he  thought  clearly,  expressed  his  ideas  forcibly 
and  above  all,  knew  his  case  thoroughly. 

In  1863  he  decided  to  commence  practice  in  Haverhill, 
and  entered  into  partnership  with  Hon.  Henry  Carter,  who 
was  already  established  there.  This  connection  was  not  of 
long  duration,  however,  as  his  partner  was  made  Justice  of 
the  Police  Court  of  Haverhill  in  1868. 

He  remained  without  a  partner  from  that  time  until  his 
oldest  son  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  became  associated 
with  him.  A  few  years  later,  Mellen  A.  Pingree,  Esq.,  was 
admitted  to  the  firm,  which  thereafter  remained  unchanged, 
until  the  decease  of  the  senior  member.  His  reputation 
continued  to  grow  with  the  profession,  and  it  was  no  unusual 
thing  for  him  to  furnish  a  written  opinion  to  some  brother 
lawyer  who  desired  to  have  the  advantage  of  his  judgment 
and  research. 


160  JEREMIAH  P.  JONES. 

He  was  often  selected  to  serve  as  auditor  or  referee,  and 
in  work  of  that  kind  showed  that  he  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  the  qualities  which  fitted  him  for  judicial  position 
which  he  would  very  likely  have  held  if  his  political  faith 
or  the  practice  of  the  appointing  power  in  taking  political 
affiliations  into  account  had  been  different.  He  was  for 
some  years  a  member  of  the  committee  to  examine  appli- 
cants for  admission  to  the  Bar. 

In  the  course  of  his  nearly  half  a  century  of  practice  he 
had  a  considerable  number  of  students  in  his  office,  who, 
without  exception,  came  to  entertain  high  respect  for  his 
learning,  and  a  warm  liking  for  him  as  a  man.  To  his  cli- 
ents and  their  interests  he  was  so  absolutely  true  that  his 
brethren  at  the  Bar  sometimes  thought  him  too  stiff  and  un- 
yielding in  his  necessary  dealings  with  them.  But  it  was 
entirely  foreign  to  his  nature  to  sacrifice  the  slightest  right 
of  a  client  to  professional  amenities,  or  for  the  gain  of  an- 
other client,  much  less  for  auy  advantage  to  himself. 

Although  his  reading  was  by  no  means  confined  within 
professional  lines  he  wrote  but  little  aside  from  what  bore 
directly  upon  his  work.  This  was  due,  however,  to  his  in- 
tensely practical  nature,  which  led  him  to  produce  only  when 
a  definite  use  for  the  product  was  in  view,  and  not  to  lack 
of  ability.  On  the  occasion  of  the  visit,  in  1867,  of  the 
great  philanthropist,  George  Peabody,  to  Georgetown,  which 
was  the  birthplace  of  his  mother,  Mr.  Jones  was  selected  to 
deliver  an  address  of  welcome  in  behalf  of  his  townspeople. 
Having  thus  a  duty  laid  upon  him  he  so  performed  it  as  to 
elicit  warm  praise  from  those  who  heard  or  read  what  he 
said,  and  from  Mr.  Peabody  himself  the  statement  made 
later,  it  is  said,  to  a  mutual  acquaintance,  that  it  was  the 
best  address  in  the  large  number  made  to  him  during  his 
tour  in  this  country.  Even  in  that  speech  of  welcome  and 
eulogy  his  devotion  to  the  useful  asserted  itself,  and  he 
turned  aside  from  the  illustrious  guest  to  impress  upon  the 
schoolboys  present  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  lesson  they 
should  learn  from  the  life  of  the  man  in  whose  honor  they 


JEREMIAH   P.   JONES.  161 

were  assembled.  It  may  well  have  been  that  feature  of  his 
address  which  especially  commended  it  to  Mr.  Peabody,  who 
was  himself  practical  in  the  highest  degree. 

As  a  citizen  of  his  adopted  town,  in  which  he  retained  his 
residence  to  the  last,  he  was  a  model  of  faithfulness  to  civic 
duty,  ready  to  assist  in  whatever  seemed  to  him  right,  and, 
what  is  more  rare  and  more  essential  to  the  makeup  of  the 
true  citizen,  he  was  equally  ready  to  oppose  what  seemed  to 
hirn  wrong,  at  whatever  cost.  He  held  various  positions  of 
honor  and  trust  in  Georgetown  ;  that  of  town  clerk,  member 
of  the  school  committee  for  many  years,  president  of  the 
Georgetown  Savings  Bank  and  trustee  of  the  Peabody 
Library. 

Although  a  Democrat  in  a  town  almost  invariably  giving 
its  vote  to  Whig  and  later  to  Republican  candidates,  he  was 
in  1851  elected  a  representative  of  the  town  in  the  General 
Court.  In  that  capacity  he  was  a  member  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  was  instrumental  in  having  the  time  allowed 
to  administrators  and  executors  for  the  settlement  of  estates 
reduced  from  four  years  to  two. 

A  few  months  prior  to  his  election  to  the  General  Court 
he  married  Elizabeth  (Spofford)  Nelson,  daughter  of  Na- 
thaniel Nelson  of  Georgetown,  and  connected  with  the  well 
known  Spofford  family  of  our  county.  In  the  home  thus  es- 
tablished, with  his  wife  and  the  six  children  born  to  them, 
he  found,  no  doubt,  the  chief  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  life. 
To  strangers  and  mere  acquaintances  he  seemed  reserved 
and  even  at  times  repellant,  but  this  aspect  was  only  the 
barrier  behind  which  an  inborn  and  never  eradicated  diffi- 
dence led  him  to  retire  for  self  protection. 

Those  who,  after  due  inspection  and  delay,  were  admitted 
within  that  barrier  as  friends,  found  there  a  man  with  as 
warm  and  true  a  heart  as  ever  beat.  With  his  family  the 
barrier  never  existed ;  the  restraint  which  elsewhere  often 
chained  his  tongue  was  unknown  in  his  home.  There  he 
was  social,  genial  and  companionable  in  the  highest  degree. 

Mr.  Jones  made  no  religious  profession,  as  it  is  termed, 


162  JEREMIAH   P.   JONES. 

but  he  was  reverent  toward  God  and  most  broadly  tolerant 
and  charitable  toward  the  genuine  religious  beliefs  of  all, 
while  his  life  was  singularly  upright  and  free  from  reproach. 

His  wife  and  all  his  children  survived  him  and  he  escaped 
all  severe  domestic  affliction.  His  later  years  were  cheered 
and  gladdened  by  the  success  and  honorable  standing  already 
obtained  at  the  bar  of  this  county  by  his  two  sons,  Boyd  B. 
Jones,  Esq.,  and  Nathaniel  N.  Jones,  Esq. 

In  the  course  of  nature  "  it  is  not  given  to  man  to  choose 
the  opportunity  of  his  death,"  but  if  it  had  been  granted  to 
him  to  choose  he  would  hardly  have  made  it  otherwise  than 
as  it  happened.  He  had  passed  the  usual  limit  of  life  and 
the  "losing,"  which  is  "  true  dying  "  had  already  set  in  with 
him,  no  more  to  cease  but  with  life  itself. 

On  the  morning  of  Nov.  7th,  1892,  he  left  home  to  attend 
to  business  in  Salem  and  Boston.  He  completed  what  he  had 
to  do  in  the  Probate  Court  at  Salem,  went  to  Boston  and  as 
far  as  the  steps  of  the  new  Court  House.  There  at  the  en- 
trance of  our  chief  temple  to  that  mistress  in  whose  service 
he  had  spent  all  his  mature  years,  he  sank  down  unconscious 
and  thus  passed,  almost  in  a  moment,  from  the  activities 
which  had  formed  his  life  work,  to  the  world  beyond. 

Mr.  William  D.  Northend  seconded  the  motion  that  these 
proceedings  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court,  in 
the  following  words  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — I  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at  the  same  term  with 
Mr.  Jones,  and  enjoyed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  him 
from  that  time  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

For  many  years  he  practiced  law  in  Georgetown,  where, 
and  in  neighboring  towns,  I  frequently  met  him  in  the  Jus- 
tices' Courts.  In  these  Courts,  in  that  period,  although 
with  a  much  more  limited  jurisdiction  than  now,  all  lawyers 
practiced.  Some  of  the  most  interesting  anecdotes  of  Rnf.ly 
Choate  and  of  the  Lords,  senior  and  junior,  are  of  incidents 
in  their  trials  in  these  Courts.     Mr.  Jones  had  also  a  consid- 


JEREMIAH   P.   JONES.  163 

erable  practice  in  the  higher  Courts.  After  he  opened  an 
office  in  Haverhill,  his  business  increased  largely,  and  he 
became  widely  known  and  respected  as  a  very  accurate  and 
reliable  counsellor.  He  engaged  largely  in  office  business, 
but  in  the  cases  he  had  in  the  courts  he  was  always  well  pre- 
pared, and  his  pleadings  were  carefully  and  admirably 
drawn.  He  was  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  common  law, 
and  although  he  was  a  diligent  reader  of  the  decisions  of  the 
courts,  yet  I  think  in  his  legal  opinions  he  was  governed 
more  by  his  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  law  than  by 
the  results  of  a  comparison  of  the  different  decided  cases. 

Mr.  Jones  was  very  modest  and  unassuming.  In  brief  ad- 
dresses made  by  him  on  public  occasions  he  showed  much 
culture  and  literary  taste.  He  was  respected  and  beloved  by 
his  brethren  of  the  bar,  to  whom  his  whole  professional  life 
was  a  worthy  example. 

I  most  cordially  second  the  motion  that  the  excellent  me- 
morial just  read,  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 


CHARLES  SEWALL. 


Mr.  Charles  A.  Sayward  presented  the  following 

Memorial. 

May  it  please  your  Honor:— The  Essex  Bar  Associa- 
tion, in  accordance  with  its  long  established  custom,  appointed 
a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Charles  Sewall,  a 
member  of  this  Bar,  who  died  at  his  home  in  Salem  on  the 
fourth  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1894. 

The  committee  has  performed  this  duty  and  respectfully 
submits  its  report. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  born  in  Rockport,  in  this  county,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1835.  His  parents  were  Levi  and  Mary  A.  Sewall. 
He  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Henry  and  Jane  (Dummer) 
Sewall,  through  their  son  John,  brother  of  Chief  Justice 
Samuel  Sewall  of  Colonial  and  Provincial  fame. 

He  commenced  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  town,  and  fitted  for  college  at  Thetford  Academy  in 
Vermont.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1853,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years,  when  he  left  for  Brown  University,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1857. 

After  completing  his  collegiate  course,  he  studied  law  in 
the  office  of  Stephen  B.  Ives,  Jr.,  in  Salem,  and  was  admitted 
to  practice  October  7,  1859.  He  soon  after  opened  an  office 
in  Salem,  and  by  untiring  industry  and  perseverance  acquired 
an  extensive  practice. 

He  was  a  man  possessed  of  a  high  degree  of  honor,  and 
while  exacting  in  what  was  due  to  himself  and  his  clients, 
he  was  careful  to  render  all  that  was  due  from  him  to  others. 
He  was  honorable  in  all  his  dealings  with  his  clients  and  with 
his  associates  of  the  Bar.  His  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond, 
and  no  one  ever  complained  that  he  had  broken  his  promise 
or  forgotten  its  terms. 

He  was  a  close  student,  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  profes- 


CHARLES   SEWALL.  165 

sion,  and  worked  out  the  law  and  the  facts  of  every  case 
faithfully  before  entering  upon  a  trial. 

In  the  court  room  he  maintained  his  position  with  courage 
and  ability,  and  always  acquitted  himself  creditably  with 
court  and  jury. 

He  was  interested  in  all  public  affairs  and  had  strong  con- 
victions on  all  public  measures.  He  served  the  city  of  Salem 
six  years  on  its  School  Committee,  and  was  a  strong  and 
able  member  of  that  Board.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  Essex 
Bar  Association  for  twenty-one  years. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  devotedly  attached  to  his  home  and  family. 
The  shadow  of  death  fell  across  his  threshold  and  one  child 
after  another  passed  to  that  bourne  whence  no  traveller  re- 
turns, and  when  the  last,  a  daughter,  slept  in  death,  his  cour- 
age was  broken,  and  the  toils  and  duties  of  his  profession 
became  a  burden.  "  His  whole  head  was  sick,  his  whole 
heart  was  faint,"  and  after  struggling  a  few  years,  he  laid 
down  the  burdens  of  life  and  slept  with  his  fathers. 

In  his  death  the  Bar  has  loss  an  honorable  member,  the 
Court  a  worthy  officer. 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  I  respectfully  re- 
quest that  this  memorial  and  a  minute  of  these  proceedings  be 
entered  upon  the  records  of  this  Court. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Richardson  seconded  the  motion  of  the 
memorialist  as  follows  : — 

It  is  perhaps  superfluous  for  me  to  attempt  to  add  to  the 
able  and  truthful  memorial  of  the  committee ;  but  there  is 
one  thing  in  the  professional  life  of  Mr.  Sewall  that  especially 
attracted  my  attention,  and  that  is,  his  great  success  in  in- 
spiring confidence  in  his  clients. 

It  is  found  to  be  one  thing  to  do  faithful  and  successful 
work,  but  quite  another  matter  to  have  clients  appreciate 
your  exertions. 

Our  brother  was  preeminently  successful  in  this.  He  not 
only  put  enthusiasm  and  zeal  into  his  work,  but  he  so 
wrought,  that  this  enthusiasm  was  communicated  to  those 


166  CHARLES   SEW  ALL. 

who  employed  him,  and  they  were  assured  that  their  attorney 
was  doing  everything  that  was  possible  to  be  done  for  them. 

This  was  quite  apparent  to  me  during  Mr.  Sewell's  life,  as 
we  had  neighboring  offices,  but  I  appreciated  it  still  more 
after  his  death,  when  the  duty  devolved  upon  me  of  settling 
his  office  matters.  I  then  came  in  contact  with  his  numerous 
clients,  and  they  almost,  if  not  quite  universally,  expressed  the 
utmost  satisfaction  with  the  work  done  for  them,  and  sorrow 
for  his  untimely  death. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Sewall  is  one  of  the  saddest  in  the  history 
of  our  Bar  Association.  Of  naturally  strong  constitution,  he 
was  at  length  broken  down  by  the  weight  of  affliction.  By 
all  the  rules  of  heredity  he  should  have  completed  the  full 
span  of  life.  He  has  told  me  himself  that  originally  he  had 
a  constitution  like  leather ;  but  domestic  affliction  came  upon 
him  with  repeated  blows  and  crushed  him.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  his  domestic  affections  were  very  deep,  and 
to  be  deprived  one  by  one  of  a  numerous  family,  some  of 
them  taken  away  by  strange  fatalities,  was  enough  to  destroy 
the  strongest,  and  his  shattered  strength  was  not  able  to  re- 
sist the  power  of  disease  when  it  came. 

During  his  life  his  many  bereavements  excited  the  strong- 
est sympathy  among  the  members  of  the  Bar,  which  sympa- 
thy is  now  extended  to  those  he  has  left. 

I  most  cordially  endorse  the  memorial  presented  and  sec- 
ond the  motion  that  these  proceedings  be  placed  upon  the 
records  of  the  Court. 


EBEN  F.  STONE. 


Mr.  William  D.  Northend  presented  the  following 
Memorial. 

There  are  few  more  impressive  thoughts  than  those  which 
come  to  us  of  departed  friends.  They  have  been  taken  from 
us  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  in  the  strength  and  glory  of  man- 
hood, and  in  the  maturity  of  age,  nevermore  to  be  known  on 
earth.  In  a  moment  the  book  of  their  earthly  life  has  been 
closed.  With  Christian  faith,  trusting  in  an  Infinite  Wisdom 
far  transcending  the  conception  of  mankind,  we  meet  this — 
to  us — impenetrable  mystery.  With  us  who  survive,  all 
thoughts  of  the  departed  are  in  the  solemn  past.  We  cherish 
in  memory  the  virtues  of  the  deceased  and  the  lessons  of 
their  lives. 

We  have  been  called  upon  to  part  with  a  brother  who  not 
only  earned  distinction  at  the  Bar,  but  exerted  a  wide  and 
beneficent  influence  in  the  performance  of  many  important 
public  duties. 

Eben  Francis  Stone  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Aug.  3, 
1822,  and  died  Jan.  22, 1895.  His  parents  were  Ebenezer  and 
Fanny  (Coolidge)  Stone.  His  first  ancestor  in  this  country 
was  Elias  Stone,  who  settled  at  Charlestown,  and  was  mar- 
ried to  Abigail  Long  in  1686.  On  the  maternal  side  Mr. 
Stone  was  descended  from  the  Coolidges  and  Storers,  of  Bos- 
ton, and  from  the  Moodys  and  Titcombs,  of  Newbury.  His 
ancestors  were  largely  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits. 

Mr.  Stone's  father  was  a  man  of  sterling  character.  Caleb 
Cushing,  in  speaking  of  him  to  a  friend,  said  he  considered 
"  Major  Stone  (he  was  a  major  in  the  militia)  a  model  citizen, 
and  altogether  the  best  man  in  the  town."  His  mother  was 
a  woman  of  estimable  qualities,  of  great  enthusiasm  in  good 
works,  and  possessed  of  a  cultured  literary  taste.  She  died 
in  Newburyport  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.     Mr.  Stone's  home 


168  EBEN  F.   STONE. 

in  his  boyhood  was  a  very  delightful  one.  His  first  teacher  was 
Mr.  Alfred  W.  Pike.  Afterwards  he  attended  the  school  of 
Mr.  Charles  Pigeon,  and  for  a  short  time  was  a  pupil  in  the 
High  School.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  Franklin 
Academy  in  North  Andover,  where  he  remained  until  fitted 
for  college.  While  at  North  Andover  he  lived  in  the  family 
of  the  Rev.  Bailey  Loring,  the  father  of  the  late  Hon.  George 
B.  Loring.  He  entered  Harvard  University  in  1839,  and  was 
graduated  in  1843.  He  then  entered  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1846.  He  was  for 
about  one  year  librarian  of  the  Law  School  Library.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Essex  County  in  1846,  and  immedi- 
ately entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Newbury- 
port,  which  from  that  time  to  the  time  of  his  death  was  his 
home. 

Mr.  Stone  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  Perrin,  of  Boston, 
Oct.  20,  1848.  By  this  marriage  there  were  born  to  them 
three  daughters, — Harriet  Child,  now  Mrs.  Alfred  Hewins, 
Fannie  Coolidge,  and  Cornelia  Perrin. 

Mr.  Stone  had  little  inclination  for  the  general  practice  in 
the  courts.  This  may  be  accounted  for  in  part  by  his  early 
interest  and  employment  in  public  affairs.  The  routine  of 
the  ordinary  business  in  the  courts  was  irksome  to  him.  Al- 
though for  many  years  he  tried  cases,  and  tried  them  well, 
yet  he  failed  in  that  love  for  and  enthusiasm  in  the  trial  of 
causes  which  are  necessary  to  the  proper  discipline  of  the 
faculties  for  the  work.  For  success  in  the  trial  of  causes 
involving  facts,  quick  conceptions,  a  mind  always  on  the 
alert,  and  the  faculty  of  thinking  on  one's  feet  are  essential ; 
and  these  come  largely  from  practice. 

But  upon  questions  of  great  interest,  in  which  principles 
were  involved,  he  showed  very  great  ability.  It  required  an 
important  and  exciting  occasion  to  bring  out  his  full  powers. 
He  was  learned  in  the  law,  and  possessed  of  a  sound,  discrim- 
inating, and  impartial  judgment,  which  gave  him  great  influ- 
ence in  the  various  public  and  private  affairs  in  which  he  en- 
gaged. 


EBEN  F.   STONE.  169 

It  is  a  somewhat  general  but  mistaken  view  that  the  repu- 
tation and  usefulness  of  a  lawyer  are  confined  to  his  practice 
in  the  courts.  However  valuable  and  popular  his  skill  in  the 
examination  of  witnesses,  and  great  the  delight  in  his  powers 
of  advocacy,  yet  a  large  field  for  reputation  and  usefulness  is 
open  to  him  in  the  performance  of  the  more  unostentatious 
duties  of  his  profession. 

The  services  of  the  profession  are  of  very  great  value  in  all 
of  the  more  important  positions  and  vocations  of  life.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  members  of  Congress  and  of  the  Legisla- 
tures of  the  several  States  are  men  educated  in  the  law.  This 
results,  not  from  any  claim  of  precedence  on  the  part  of  the 
profession,  but  from  the  fact  that  the  education  and  disci- 
pline of  its  members  best  qualify  them  for  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  duties  of  legislation.  The  public  needs  their  ser- 
vices, for  which  it  makes  requisition. 

So  in  the  conduct  of  the  great  business  affairs  of  the  world 
their  knowledge  and  advice  are  a  necessity. 

They  perform  a  very  useful  service  in  checking  litigation. 
Few  outside  the  profession  know  the  difficulty  of  preventing 
parties  from  engaging  in  lawsuits.  Honest-meaning  men, 
warmed  in  a  controversy,  not  only  insist  on  bringing  suits, 
which  once  commenced,  are  sure  to  entail  protracted  and  un- 
happy disputes,  but  in  their  zeal  fail  to  disclose  to  their  coun- 
sel important  facts  favoring  their  opponents.  It  requires 
wisdom  and  experience  to  deal  with  such  parties,  skill  to 
draw  out  all  the  facts,  and  patient  and  dispassionate  reason- 
ing to  dissuade  the  beginning.  Instead  of  encouraging  law- 
suits, it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  a  lawyer's  duties  to 
prevent  them.  There  is  no  profession  more  open  to  the  wit 
of  the  satirist  than  that  of  the  law.  The  characterizations  of 
the  practitioners  are  proverbial.  Yet,  as  one  of  the  best  law- 
yers in  this  county  remarked,  "  although  all  men  abuse  law- 
yers, no  one  abuses  his  own  lawyer."  The  client,  in  his  dis- 
tress, will  disclose  to  his  counsel  what  he  will  not  to  a  man  of 
any  other  profession,  and  will  trustfully  confide  to  him  his 
dearest  and  most  important  interests.     When  I  speak  of  law- 


170  EBEN  F.   STONE. 

yers  I  mean  lawyers,  not  the  reptiles  which  infest  not  only 
the  legal,  but  every  other  profession. 

Mr.  Stone,  in  his  admirable  address  at  the  dedication  of  the 
Court  House  in  Salem,  expressed  his  feelings  in  regard  to  the 
ordinary  trials,  which,  in  the  early  days  of  his  profession,  and 
much  more  since,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  time, 
have  been  largely  contests  for  pecuniary  ends,  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  "  a  clever  practitioner  who  has  sufficient  knowledge 
of  cases  and  of  the  rules  of  practice  in  the  courts  to  con- 
duct a  case  skilfully  from  its  entry  on  the  docket,  through  its 
ordinary  stages,  to  judgment  and  execution,  and  sufficient 
shrewdness  to  deal  successfully  with  the  arts  and  devices  by 
which  a  doubtful  case  is  brought  to  a  favorable  conclusion. 
Such  men  may  do  good  and  useful  work,  and  acquire  and  de- 
serve a  respectable  standing  with  the  distinction  that  comes 
from  pecuniary  success  ;  but  he  has  no  high  aim,  no  adequate 
conception  of  the  true  office  of  jurisprudence." 

Mr.  Stone  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts 
in  1857,  1858  and  1861.  The  legislature  of  1861  convened 
at  a  most  critical  period.  We  were  then  on  the  eve  of  our 
sectional  war,  when  the  whole  country  was  in  a  state  of  the 
greatest  excitement.  War  was  imminent,  and  measures  were 
adopted  in  anticipation  of  it.  The  "  Personal  Liberty  Bill," 
as  it  was  called,  containing  unconstitutional  provisions,  and 
being  justly  considered  as  offensive  by  the  people  of  the 
South,  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  legislature  for 
examination,  and,  if  necessary,  for  revision.  Mr.  Stone  was 
chairman  of  that  committee.  From  his  known  anti-slavery 
views  those  who  did  not  know  the  fibre  of  the  man  were 
apprehensive  that  the  radical  pressure  against  any  modifica- 
tion of  the  act  might  influence  him. 

After  a  full  hearing  and  consideration  of  the  subject,  Mr. 
Stone,  for  the  committee,  reported  to  the  Senate  a  bill  for 
the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  features  of  the  act.  This  was 
met  by  a  strong  opposition  from  the  radical  members.  The 
Senate  was  nearly  equally  divided  on  the  measure.  At  a 
time  when  Mr.  Stone  was  engaged  in  a  committee  room  the 


EBEN   F.   STONE.  171 

opponents  of  the  measure  succeeded  in  bringing  it  before  the 
Senate.  Mr.  Stone  received  information  of  the  fact.  In  a 
few  minutes,  while  the  subject  was  under  discussion,  he  en- 
tered the  Senate  chamber.  He  thought  that  he  had  been 
unfairly  treated  by  this  attempt  to  pass  upon  the  report  of  the 
committee  in  his  absence  ;  and  the  moment  an  opportunity 
offered  he  addressed  the  Senate  in  an  impassioned  and  very 
eloquent  speech,  denouncing  the  attempt  that  had  been  made 
and  defending  the  report  of  the  committee.  Upon  a  vote 
the  subject  was  postponed.  After  various  and  strenuous  ef- 
forts to  defeat  the  measure,  it  was  finally  adopted  by  a  small 
majority. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  close  of  the  session  Fort  Sumter 
was  fired  upon.  Governor  Andrew  conferred  with  promi- 
nent members  of  both  Houses ;  and,  after  the  preparation  of 
bills  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  pass,  he  called  an  "  extra 
session,"  which  was  held.  Mr.  Stone  took  an  active  part  in 
the  preliminary  work,  and  himself  drew  up  the  bill  for  the 
support  of  the  families  of  volunteers,  and  was  very  influen- 
tial in  the  important  work  of  the  session. 

In  November,  1862,  Mr.  Stone  was  commissioned  by 
Governor  Andrew,  colonel  of  the  48th  Regiment,  which  was 
enlisted  for  nine  months,  but  was  in  service  about  one  year 
at  Baton  Rouge  and  at  Port  Hudson. 

Judge  Edgar  J.  Sherman,  a  captain  in  the  Regiment, 
writes : — 

"  Colonel  Stone  was  a  conscientious  and  painstaking  offi- 
cer, looking  carefully  to  the  health  and  efficiency  of  his 
command,  faithful  to  every  call  and  duty,  and  calm  and  cour- 
ageous in  the  hour  of  danger.  The  officers  and  soldiers  in 
his  command  entertained  great  respect  for  him  as  an  officer 
and  ever-increasing  admiration  for  him  as  a  man." 

In  1865  Mr.  Stone  entered  into  a  law  partnership  with 
Caleb  Cushing  in  Washington,  with  a  view  to  removing 
there,  but  after  a  practice  of  about  one  year,  he  became  dis- 
satisfied with  the  place,  and  returned  to  Newburyport. 

Mr.  Stone  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 


172  EBEN  F.    STONE. 

of  Massachusetts  in  1867,  1877, 1878  and  1880,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1880  he  was  elected  a  representative  to  the  Forty-seventh 
Congress,  and  was  re-elected  to  the  Forty-eighth  and  Forty- 
ninth  Congresses.  During  the  time  of  this  service  Mr.  Stone 
was  on  important  committees,  and  performed  a  large  amount 
of  labor.  No  one  can  read  his  very  able  speech  on  the  pro- 
posed breakwater  at  Rockport  without  a  feeling  of  deep  re- 
gret that  he  did  not  oftener  address  the  House.  That,  I  am 
informed,  was  the  feeling  of  those  in  the  House  who  knew 
him  best. 

Besides  the  qualities  and  accomplishments  which  have 
been  mentioned,  Mr.  Stone  was  a  man  of  letters.  His  address 
at  the  dedication  of  the  new  Court  House  in  Salem  is  a 
model  of  literary  excellence,  and  his  speech  in  Congress  upon 
the  River  and  Harbor  Bill,  and  his  papers  on  Governor  An- 
drew and  Tristram  Dalton,  read  before  the  Essex  Institute, 
and  printed  in  its  Collections,  are  very  finely  written.  He 
was  among  the  last  of  the  type  of  lawyers  of  the  county  who 
associated  letters  with  the  law.  In  his  address  at  Salem  he 
made  a  quotation  from  a  recent  article  in  the  London  Spec- 
tator upon  the  retirement  from  office  of  two  eminent  Scotch 
judges,  of  which  I  give  a  part : — "  In  Scotland,  as  elsewhere, 
the  competition  for  the  loaves  and  fishes  is  becoming  keener 
in  all  professions,  and  the  lawyer  finds  himself  hustled  out 
of  literature  by  the  trained  public  writer  and  man  of  letters." 
In  his  comment  on  this  Mr.  Stone  said,  "  This  change  is  in- 
evitable. As  society  progresses  the  conditions  of  success  in 
the  various  pursuits  become  more  and  more  scientific  and 
exacting.  And  yet  there  was  a  charm  in  the  social  condition 
which  caused  the  old  alliance  between  law  and  letters,  which 
we  cannot  lose  without  regret.  Life  was  then  more  inter- 
esting and  picturesque.  Each  man's  work  was  less  sharply 
defined,  and  the  distinctions  that  now  separate  classes  did  not 
exist.  Men  were  selected  for  special  service,  not  because  of 
special  training,  but  because  of  supposed  natural  fitness.  The 
judge  on  the  bench  was  not  the  learned  lawyer,  but  the  man 
who  was  thought  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  have  the  judicial 


EBEN   F.    STONE.  173 

faculty.  Every  man  of  natural  superiority  took  two  or  three 
different  parts.  The  minister  was  doctor  and  farmer  as  well. 
The  lawyer  was  the  squire  of  the  village,  who  supplied  the 
demand  for  literary  or  oratorical  services  in  default  of  the 
scholar  and  the  trained  man  of  letters, — the  fruit  of  a  more 
luxurious  and  advanced  civilization." 

There  can  be  no  better  evidence  of  the  respect  with  which 
the  people  of  his  native  city  regarded  him  than  his  election 
or  appointment  to  so  many  local  offices  of  trust  and  respon- 
sibility affords.  Besides  the  public  offices  which  have  been 
stated,  he  was,  at  different  times,  mayor  of  the  city,  a  member 
of  its  Common  Council  and  its  president,  city  solicitor,  a 
member  of  the  School  Committee,  and  director  in  or  trustee 
of  the  most  important  financial,  educational  and  charitable 
institutions  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Stone  was  especially  distinguished  for  his  integrity 
and  native  nobility  of  character.  He  was  modest  and  unas- 
suming in  his  manners,  and  never  made  any  attempt  at  dis- 
play, or  did  anything  for  sensational  effect.  He  had  an 
ambition  for  preferment,  but  never  did,  or  could,  resort  to 
any  of  the  arts  of  the  politicians.  He  stood  simply  for  what 
he  was.  He  held  decided  opinions,  which  he  never  disguised 
or  compromised  for  political  ends.  He  stood  solely  on  his 
merits  as  understood  by  those  from  whom  he  sought  support. 
He  was  independent,  yet  never  defiant  or  censorious.  He 
was  very  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  those  from  whom  he  dif- 
fered. He  was  never  narrow  in  his  views,  and  his  mind  was 
ever  open  to  the  arguments  of  his  opponents.  He  was  never 
a  strictly  party  man.  He  believed  fully  in  the  necessity  of 
united  action  by  those  of  the  same  general  political  beliefs, 
but  reserved  the  right  of  individual  judgment  upon  all  meas- 
ures proposed.  He  never  fully  consented  to  all  the  policies 
of  his  own  party.  All  measures  were  subjected  to  the  cruci- 
ble of  his  "  unclouded  reason."  He  had  great  moral  as  well 
as  physical  courage.  He  felt  a  personal  responsibility  in  the 
performance  of  his  public  duties,  and  did  right  as  his  reason 
pointed  out  the  right,  without  inquiring  whether  his  course 
would  be  popular  or  how  it  would  affect  his  political  future. 


174  EBEN  F.   STONE. 

In  private  life  Mr.  Stone  was  beloved  and  respected  by  all 
who  knew  him.  With  a  mind  eminently  practical,  and  stored 
with  knowledge  derived  from  books  and  from  his  large  and 
varied  experiences,  he  was  most  interesting  and  instructive 
in  conversation  and  in  discussions  in  literary  societies.  He 
was  true  and  unswerving  in  his  friendships,  and  most  happy 
in  the  delights  of  his  family  circle.  He  left  to  his  friends 
and  this  community  a  priceless  legacy  in  the  example  of  an 
honorable  and  useful  life . 

Such  a  life  as  Mr.  Stone's  is  a  contribution  to  the  great 
tide  of  human  advancement  through  influences  which  cannot 
be  weighed,  or  measured  by  time. 

"  Were  a  star  quenched  on  high, 

For  ages  would  its  light, 
Still  travelling  downward  from  the  sky, 

Shine  on  our  mortal  sight. 
So,  when  a  good  man  dies, 

For  years  beyond  our  ken 
The  light  he  leaves  behind  him  lies 

Upon  the  paths  of  men." 

I  respectfully  request  that  this  memorial  be  entered  of 
record  in  this  court. 

Mr.  George  W.  Cate  seconded  the  motion  of  Mr.  Northend 
in  the  following  words  : — 

It  is  nearly  thirty  years  since  I  became  acquainted  with 
Col.  Stone  ;  that  acquaintance  soon  ripened  into  a  warm, 
personal  friendship,  which  continued  until  his  death.  Dur- 
ing the  past  twenty-five  years  I  have  been  at  times  associated 
with  him,  have  tried  cases  before  him  as  auditor  and  referee, 
and  in  all  these  relations  have  been  impressed  with  his  ability, 
his  dignified  bearing,  and  his  never  failing  courtesy.  He 
was,  in  many  respects,  an  extraordinary  man.  His  intellec- 
tual attainments  were  of  a  high  order.  He  possessed  a  won- 
derful versatility  of  intellect.  As  a  counsellor  he  was  wise, 
cautious  and  reliable.  He  had  an  analytical  mind,  and  saw 
clearly  the  strong  and  weak  points  of  his  case,  marshalled 
his  facts  skilfully,  and  applied  the  law  with  a  wise  discrimi- 


EBEN   F.    STONE.  175 

nation.  He  preferred  to  deal  with  facts  and  principles  rather 
than  isolated  cases  and  precedents  founded  on  technicalities. 
Col.  Stone  was  a  patriot;  a  man  of  positive  ideas,  with  the 
courage  of  his  convictions.  His  acts  and  words  were  the  ex- 
pressions of  conscientious  conclusions.  He  left  his  happy- 
home,  his  large  professional  business,  his  native  city,  ever 
dear  to  him,  to  defend  the  imperilled  institutions  of  his  coun- 
try. He  led  his  regiment  in  the  field  with  great  credit  to 
himself  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  superior  officers. 
Almost  regardless  of  his  personal  safety,  he  never  asked  a 
soldier  to  go  where  he  would  not  lead.  After  the  war,  he 
was  for  a  short  time  connected  with  the  internal  revenue  de- 
partment, but  this  did  not  suit  him.  Newburyport  in  due 
time  elected  him  as  a  representative  to  the  General  Court. 
Previous  to  the  war  he  had  served  as  a  member  of  the  House 
and  Senate.  Here  his  previous  experience,  his  ability,  and 
his  sterling  integrity  enabled  him  at  once  to  take  a  high  rank. 
As  a  debater  he  was  argumentative  and  convincing.  His 
influence  was  always  for  what  he  considered  right;  but  how- 
ever strong  his  convictions,  he  never  did  an  unmanly  act  to 
carry  a  point.  He  was  three  times  elected  to  congress.  It 
was  during  his  term  of  service  that  the  French  Spoliation 
claims  came  up  for  adjustment,  and  on  this  Col.  Stone  made 
one  of  the  ablest  speeches  which  was  made  during  the  session, 
in  which  he  dwelt  largely  with  the  principle  of  subrogation. 
He  was  not  a  frequent  debater  in  the  House,  choosing  to 
talk  before  the  committee,  and  thus  have  the  bills  come 
through  the  proper  channel,  backed  by  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee. As  a  member  of  congress  he  was  faithful  to,  and 
watchful  of  the  interests  of  his  district.  For  any  dishonest 
scheme  he  was  disqualified  by  his  mental  makeup,  by  the 
honesty  of  his  heart,  by  his  conscience,  and  every  instinct  of 
his  manhood.  His  general  reading,  his  broad  and  catholic 
views,  his  unquestioned  integrity,  endeared  him  to  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  true  to  his 
clients,  and  the  court.  As  a  soldier  he  was  patriotic  and 
brave.     As   a   statesman   he  was  wise  and  sagacious.     As 


176  EBEN  F.   STONE. 

a  citizen  he  represented  the  best  type  of  New  England  man- 
hood. I  respectfully  second  the  motion  that  the  Memorial 
presented,  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Mr.  Justice  Lilley  replied  as  follows  : — 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar: — It  was  not  my  fortune  to 
know  personally  any  of  the  brethren  whom  you  have  lost, 
and  to  whose  worth  you  bear  testimony  today. 

I  am  only  privileged  to  claim  professional  kinship  with 
them.  Yet,  as  I  listen  to  these  graceful  and  affectionate 
tributes  ;  these  brief  sketches  presenting,  as  the  limited  time 
afforded  us  will  only  permit,  the  salient  traits  of  each  of 
them,  and  what  may  be  called  the  central  features  of  his  life 
work,  a  familiar  figure  appears  before  me,  which,  without 
the  aid  of  personal  acquaintance,  commands  my  respect  and 
admiration.  That  of  the  upright  lawyer,  discharging  with 
zeal  and  fidelity  the  duties  devolving  upon  him  in  the  various 
departments  of  our  profession.  As  the  incorruptible  magis- 
trate, dispensing  justice  with  an  even  hand  from  the  bench  ; 
as  the  counsellor  seeking  to  establish  and  adjust  controverted 
rights  and  liabilities  by  timely  advice,  by  friendly  confer- 
ence, and  by  reasonable  concession,  rather  than  by  hasty  ap- 
peals to  the  courts ;  as  the  advocate  at  the  bar,  striving  by 
fair  and  skilful  examination  and  by  legitimate  argument  to 
discover  and  promote  the  truth,  rather  than  to  make  the  worse 
appear  the  better  cause.  When  the  life  of  such  a  man  is 
closed  it  is  indeed  fitting,  as  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Es- 
sex Bar  for  half  a  century,  to  take  some  formal  note  of  the 
event.  In  a  notable  address  delivered  some  years  ago,  from 
which  you  will  permit  me  briefly  to  quote  the  sentiments  to 
which  an  occasion  like  this  gives  rise,  were  thus  eloquently 
expressed  by  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  a  neighboring  state. 

"  I  am  reminded  of  the  infelicity  which  attends  the  repu- 
tation of  a  lawyer.  To  my  thinking  the  most  vigorous  brain 
work  of  the  world  is  done  in  our  profession.  And  then  our 
work  concerns  the  highest  of  all  temporal  interests,  property, 
reputation,  the  peace  of  families,  liberty,  and  life  even.    The 


EBEN   P.   STONE.  177 

world  accepts  the  work,  but  forgets  the  workers.  The  waste 
hours  of  Lord  Bacon  and  Sergeant  Talfourd  were  devoted  to 
letters,  and  each  is  infinitely  better  remembered  for  his  mere 
literary  diversions  than  for  his  whole  long  and  laborious  pro- 
fessional life  work.  The  caricatures  of  Dickens  on  the  pro- 
fession will  outlive,  I  fear,  in  the  popular  memory,  the  judg- 
ments of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  for  the  latter  were  not  bur- 
lesques, but  only  masterpieces  of  reason  and  jurisprudence. 
The  victory  gained  by  the  counsel  of  the  seven  Bishops  was 
worth  infinitely  more  to  the  people  of  England  than  all  the 
triumphs  of  the  Crimean  war.  But  Lord  Cardigan  led  a 
foolishly  brilliant  charge  again  a  Russian  battery  at  Balaklava 
and  became  immortal.  Who  led  the  great  charge  of  the  seven 
great  Confessors  of  the  English  Church  against  the  English 
Crown  at  Westminister  Hall?  You  must  go  to  your  books 
to  answer.  They  were  not  on  horseback.  They  wore  gowns 
instead  of  epaulets.  The  truth  is  we  are  like  the  little  insects 
that  in  the  unseen  depths  of  the  ocean  lay  the  coral  founda 
tions  of  uprising  islands.  In  the  end  comes  the  solid  land,  the 
olive  and  the  vine,  the  habitations  of  man,  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries of  life,  the  haven  of  sea  and  ships  riding  at  anchor.  But 
the  busy  toilers  which  laid  the  beams  of  a  continent  in  a 
dreary  waste  were  entombed  in  their  work  and  forgotten  in 
their  tomb.  Yet  the  infelicity  to  which  I  have  alluded  is  not 
without  its  compensations.  For  what  after  all  is  posthu- 
mous fame  to  him  who  brought  nothing  into  this  world  and 
may  carry  nothing  out?  The  dead  leave  behind  their  repu- 
tations alike  with  their  estates.  We  may  justly  console  our- 
selves with  the  reflection  that  we  belong  to  a  profession 
which,  above  all  others,  shapes  and  fashions  the  institutions 
under  which  we  live,  and  which,  in  the  language  of  a  great 
statesman,  '  is  as  ancient  as  the  magistracy,  as  noble  as  virtue, 
as  necessary  as  justice,' — a  profession,  I  venture  to  add, 
which  is  generous  and  fraternal  above  all  others,  and  in 
which  living  merit  is  appreciated  in  its  day  according  to  its 
deserts,  and  by  none  so  quickly  and  ungrudgingly  as  by  those 
who  are  its  professional  contemporaries  and  its  competitors 


178  EBEN  F.    STONE. 

in  the  same  field.  We  have  our  rivalries,  who  else  has  more  ? 
But  they  seldom  produce  jealousies.  We  have  our  conten- 
tions. Who  else  has  so  many?  But  they  seldom  produce 
enmities.  The  old  Saxons  used  to  cover  their  fires  on  every 
hearth  at  the  sound  of  the  evening  curfew.  In  like  manner, 
but  to  a  better  purpose,  we  also  cover  at  each  nightfall  the 
embers  of  each  day's  struggle  and  strife.  We  never  defer 
amnesties  till  after  death,  and  have  less  occasion,  therefore, 
than  some  others,  to  deal  in  post  mortem  bronzes  and  marbles. 
So  much  we  may  say  without  arrogance  of  ourselves,  so  much 
of  our  noble  profession." 

The  several  memorials  will  be  entered  upon  the  records  of 
the  court,  as  moved,  and  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memorj' 
of  our  deceased  brethren  this  court  will  now  adjourn. 


ELBRIDGE  T.  BURLEY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  Septem- 
ber 14,  1896,  Messrs.  Horatio  G.  Herrick,  Charles  C.  Dame, 
William  H.  Niles,  Boyd  B.  Jones,  and  Henry  P.  Moulton 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Mr. 
Elbridge  T.  Burlby  to  be  presented  to  the  Supreme  Judi- 
cial Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  held  at  Salem,  December  15, 
1896,  Justice  Barker  presiding  and  Justice  Hammond 
of  the  Superior  Court  sitting  with  him,  Mr.  John  P. 
Sweeney  for   the    Bar   Association,   presented   the   fol-# 
lowing  memorial. 

May  it  please  the  Court  : — At  the  request  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Asso- 
ciation to  arrange  for  appropriate  action  on  the  death  of  our 
brother,  the  late  Elbridge  T.  Burley,  which  occurred  on 
the  first  day  of  September  last,  I  rise  to  present  the  following 
memorial. 

Elbridge  Tyler  Burley  was  born  at  Newmarket,  in  the 
state  of  New  Hampshire,  on  the  10th  day  of  January,  1842. 
His  father  was  James  Burley  and  his  paternal  ancestors  for 
several  generations  had  been  born  and  bred  in  or  near  New- 
market. His  mother,  Lucy  A.  Davis,  was  of  a  family  long 
identified  with  the  neighboring  town  of  Barrington.  On 
both  sides  he  was  descended  from  plain,  farming  people, 
such  as  constitute  the  native  yeomanry  class  of  New  Eng- 
land, the  product  of  the  early  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  im- 
migration, modified  and  developed  by  the  struggles  of  life 
on  the  rocky  soil  of  the  granite  state.  From  them  he  inher- 
ited a  strong  constitution,  a  large  capacity  for  work  and 
those  mental  and  moral  traits  which  distinguish  the  best 
type  of  New  England  people.     While  he  had  none  of  the 


180  ELBRIDGE  T.  BTJRLEY. 

advantages  of  opportunity  that  spring  from  wealth  or  influ- 
ential social  position,  his  parents  were  able  to  provide  him 
with  the  ordinary  educational  training  of  the  schools  of  his 
native  town  supplemented  by  a  course  of  study  at  Phillips 
(Exeter)  Academy. 

He  began  the  study  of  law  with  William  B.  Small,  Esq., 
of  Newmarket,  a  lawyer  of  considerable  repute  in  southern 
New  Hampshire,  and  completed  his  law  course  in  the  office 
of  Daniel  Saunders,  Esq.,  at  Lawrence  in  this  county.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  Essex  Bar  in  the  year  1865,  and  from 
that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death  was  engaged  in  the  unin- 
terrupted practice  of  his  profession,  his  office  and  residence 
being  at  Lawrence.  From  the  year  1889  he  had  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  and  since  1890,  one  of 
the  Board  of  Law  Examiners  for  this  county.  With  these 
exceptions  and  a  period  of  service  as  city  solicitor  of  Law- 
rence, he  never  rendered  any  services  of  even  a  semi-public 
character.  He  neither  sought  nor  held  public  office  discon- 
nected with  his  profession.  He  was  a  lawyer  in  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  word,  and  by  his  work  as  such,  won  his  chief 
distinction. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  fame  of  even  the  greatest  lawyer 
is  but  transitory,  there  is  some  compensation  in  the  fact 
that,  even  during  his  lifetime,  the  estimate  of  the  merit  and 
achievements  of  a  lawyer  by  his  associates  at  the  bar  is  apt 
to  be  discriminating  and  just.  It  is  possible  that  laymen 
may  be  deceived  in  this  respect ;  that  showy  and  meretricious 
qualities  may  for  a  time  win  outside  applause ;  but  in  the 
esteem  of  the  bar  no  one  wins  a  higher  place  as  a  lawyer 
than  that  to  which  his  ability  and  industry  justly  entitle 
him.  There  is  no  profession  so  free  from  jealousy  and  that 
spirit  of  envy  that  would  detract  from  the  just  tribute  due 
to  superior  excellence.  Social  attributes,  however  potent  in 
other  fields,  cannot  supply  deficiency  of  learning  at  the  bar, 
nor  does  the  lack  of  social  graces  preveut  the  recognition  of 
well  earned  distinction.  In  this  respect  the  judgment  of  the 
bar  is  inflexible   and   impartial.      The  lawyer  can   neither 


ELBRIDGE  T.   BURLEY.  181 

deceive  himself  nor  his  associates  as  to  his  ability,  and  the 
arena  of  the  courts  is  a  field  of  contest  where  merit — and 
merit  alone — bears  away  the  palm. 

Mr.  Burley's  standing  at  the  bar  of  this  county  and  of  the 
Commonwealth,  was  for  many  years  well  established  and  uni- 
versally conceded.  It  was  at  the  forefront,  in  the  foremost 
rank.  He  was  a  competitor  worthy  of  any  antagonist,  well 
skilled  in  the  art  of  legal  attack  and  defence.  His  position 
was  a  well  earned  distinction,  the  result  of  strong  native 
ability  and  the  unremitting  devotion  which  the  jealous  mis- 
tress of  the  law  exacts  from  those  who  seek  to  enjoy  her 
favors.  He  was  a  natural  lawyer,  born  to  the  profession,  the 
possessor  of  what  we  call  a  legal  mind,  quick  to  apprehend 
the  principles  of  the  law  and  to  foresee  their  logical  develop- 
ment in  the  solution  of  new  questions.  Joined  to  this  natu- 
ral aptitude  was  the  capacity  for  continuous  labor  which  stored 
his  mind  with  a  wide  and  thorough  knowledge  of  precedents. 
He  had  a  strong  liking  for  his  profession  and  he  pursued  it 
with  the  ardor  of  one  who  regarded  it  not  merely  as  a  means 
of  livelihood,  but  as  a  science  worthy  of  his  best  intellectual 
effort.  As  a  consequence,  he  was  never  lax  in  the  perform- 
ance of  professional  duty,  but  always  came  to  the  trial  of  a 
cause  with  a  clear  understanding  of  the  facts  and  a  careful 
preparation  of  the  law.  In  all  his  work  he  aimed  at  absolute 
accuracy  and  was  never  satisfied  with  anything  less  either  in 
himself  or  in  others. 

Although  short  in  stature  he  had  an  imposing  aspect. 
With  a  shapely  and  well-set  head,  a  keen  eye  and  a  clearly 
cut,  intellectual  face  he  looked  every  inch  a  lawyer,  and 
whether  before  the  bench  or  the  jury  his  appearance  was 
calculated  to  command  attention.  While  making  no  preten- 
sions to  oratory,  he  was  fluent  in  speech  without  being  prolix, 
terse  and  direct  in  expression  and  always  earnest  in  his 
manner.  These  qualities,  coupled  with  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  New  England  character,  rendered  him  a  strong  and 
convincing  advocate  before  a  jury.  In  cases  involving  ques- 
tions of  deceit  he  was  particularly  effective.     He  had  a  keen 


182  ELBRIDGE   T.   BTJRLEY. 

scent  for  fraud  and  would  pursue  it  with  unflagging  zeal  until 
he  laid  it  bare  before  the  bench  or  jury.  There  were  few 
witnesses  so  hardened  in  corruption  as  to  be  able  to  with- 
stand his  searching  and  relentless  cross-examination. 

He  was  a  successful  lawyer  from  the  beginning,  the  pre- 
liminary period  of  waiting  having  been  with  him  very  brief,  and 
his  services  were  each  year  in  increasing  demand.  His  prac- 
tice, although  a  large  and  lucrative  one,  measured  by  the 
standards  of  this  county,  might  have  been  much  larger  had 
he  desired  it.  He  was  not  ambitious  for  an  extensive  prac- 
tice, however,  preferring  to  do  only  such  work  as  he  could  do 
thoroughly.  Like  every  true  workman  in  any  calling,  he 
cared  more  for  the  quality  than  the  quantity  of  his  work,  and 
when  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  an  important  case,  he 
would  lock  his  office  door  and  deny  himself  to  all  callers  for 
days  at  a  time.  During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  his  profes- 
sional engagements  led  him  to  make  a  special  study  of  the 
law  of  wills  and  by  his  successful  conduct  of  several  contested 
will  cases  he  acquired  a  fame  that  was  not  limited  to  this 
county  alone,  but  extended  throughout  the  commonwealth. 

His  demeanor  towards  the  court  was  always  irreproachable. 
He  had  an  exalted  ideal  of  the  judicial  character,  and  he 
cherished  it  with  the  utmost  fidelity.  While  always  firm 
•and  insistent  for  the  rights  of  his  clients,  he  was  respectful 
to  the  court  and  frank  to  the  very  extreme  of  candor. 

In  his  dealings  with  his  associates  at  the  Bar,  as  with  the 
world  at  large,  he  was  the  very  soul  of  honor.  He  was  utterly 
incapable  of  any  artifice  or  deceit.  He  entertained  what  are 
considered  by  some  to  be  old-fashioned  ideas  as  to  the  dig- 
nity and  proprieties  of  the  profession,  and  he  had  a  lofty  scorn 
for  those  modern  methods  which  seemed  to  him  calculated  to 
degrade  the  practice  of  the  law.  His  love  for  the  profession 
was  deep  and  enduring,  its  history  and  traditions  were  to  him 
sacred  and  venerable,  and  he  repelled  an  assault  upon  it  as 
he  would  an  attack  on  his  personal  honor.  He  constantly 
strove  by  precept  and  example  to  elevate  and  ennoble  it,  and 
as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Law  Examiners  he  aimed   to 


ELBRIDGE  T.   BTJRLEY.  183 

maintain  a  high  standard  of  acquirement  and  character  at 
the  Bar.  If  to  some  careless  student  of  the  law  he  seemed  too 
exacting,  those  who  were  prepared  found  him  an  appreciative 
listener,  and  all  must  have  been  impressed  by  his  high  sense 
of  duty  and  his  devotion  to  what  he  considered  the  interests 
of  the  public. 

He  had  the  same  lofty  conception  of  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship. He  was  intensely  patriotic  in  the  true  and  noble  sense 
of  the  word.  Although  he  always  remained  in  private  station, 
he  exerted  a  powerful  influence  for  good  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  lead  in  any  move- 
ment that  promised  to  advance  the  common  welfare.  Men- 
tally and  morally  intrepid,  he  never  shrank  from  a  conflict 
with  the  foes  of  public  order,  and  his  services  were  always  in 
demand  and  were  freely  given  in  every  public  emergency. 
His  aggressiveness^in  this  respect  made  enemies  of  those  whose 
schemes  he  thwarted,  but  won  the  admiration  of  every  lover 
of  manly  principle. 

Remarkable  as  were  the  mental  traits,  which  enabled  him 
him  to  become  an  eminent  lawyer,  his  greatest  endowment 
was  his  forceful  moral  character.  Like  all  men  who  achieve 
real  distinction  in  any  walk  of  life  he  had  a  strong  personality, 
a  well-marked  individuality.  He  was  not  a  merely  negative 
character  influenced  solely  by  his  environment,  but  a  positive 
force  from  which  irradiated  a  powerful  influence  upon  those 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  Chief  among  his  moral  traits 
was  his  honesty  or  love  of  truth,  a  trait  which  was  so  strongly 
implanted  in  him  by  nature  that  it  needed  no  cultivation  to 
develop  it.  It  was  this  quality  which  animated  and  gave 
color  to  his  whole  life.  He  had  an  absolute  devotion  to  the 
truth  and  he  followed  unflinchingly  wherever  it  led.  So  in- 
tense was  this  loyalty  to  truth  that  he  went  to  extremes  in 
her  service  and,  as  he  was  wont  to  forcibly  express  what  he 
strongly  felt,  he  sometimes  appeared  harsh  and  uncharitable 
in  his  judgment  of  men  and  their  motives.  He  had  not  only 
a  contempt  for  such  sham  and  hypocrisy  as  were  hurtful,  but 
even  the  conventionalities  of  life  sometimes  fretted  and  dis- 


184  ELBMDGE  T.   BURLEY. 

turbed  him.     Yet  if  he  was  critical  in  his  estimate  of  others, 
he  was  no  less  rigorous  with  himself.     He  had  ever  before 
him  a  high  standard  of  duty  and  he  compelled  himself  to 
render  the  same  quality  of  service  that  he  exacted  from  others. 
Life  was  with  him  a  serious  thing;  it  had  not  only  its  pleas- 
ures but  its  responsibilities,  and  to  be  remiss  in  the  perform- 
ance of  duty  was  with  him  no  trivial  fault.     He  had  a  sen- 
sitive conscience.     He  was  not  adapted  to  advocate  an  un- 
worthy cause  or  to  defend  with  mere  technicalities.    He  was 
oppressed  and  burdened  by  a  case  of  doubtful  merit  and  he 
could  not  conceal  his  feelings  ;  but  in  what  he  conceived  to 
be  a  just  cause,  no  matter  how  desperate,  he  was  a  tower  of 
strength  and  could  display  a  moral  courage  that  was  sublime. 
In  the  expression  of  his  opinions,  he  was  absolutely  fearless. 
Indifferent  to  popular  applause  and  undismayed  by  popular 
enmity,  he  resolutely  laid  his  course  along  the  strict  line  of 
duty. 

While  he  was  not  a  social  man  in  the  popular  sense  of  the 
word,  he  took  a  lively  and  kindly  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
his  neighbors  and  acquaintances.  He  had  an  especial  pre- 
deliction  for  elderly  people  with  whom  he  delighted  to  con- 
verse. He  had  but  few  intimates,  but  to  those  whom  he  hon- 
ored with  his  friendship  he  revealed  traits  of  character  that 
were  charming  and  attractive.  His  emotions  lay  very  near  a 
surface  that  was  somewhat  austere,  and  were  quick  to  re- 
spond to  the  claims  of  the  wretched  and  the  unfortunate. 
He  could  not  contemplate  physical  distress  or  mental  suffer- 
ing of  any  kind  unmoved,  and  his  generosity  was  bountiful 
but  unobtrusive.  Under  a  severe  exterior,  he  carried  a  warm 
and  compassionate  heart,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  afflicted, 
and  alive  to  the  misery  of  those  who  trod  the  humble  paths 
of  life.  He  was  thoroughly  democratic  but  without  a  trace 
of  demagogism.  He  believed  in  equality  of  rights,  and  his 
sense  of  justice  was  strong  and  impartial. 

He  was  a  lover  of  good  books  and  a  diligent  and  discrim- 
inating reader  outside  of  the  law.  He  had  a  strong  regard  for 
the  standard  poets,  especially  for  those  whose  verses  com- 


ELBRIDGE  T.   BURLEY.  185 

memorate  the  plain  and  simple  virtues  of  life,  and  he  was 
able  to  quote  from  them  copiously. 

The  strong  attachment  for  nature  in  all  her  moods  which  he 
imbibed  as  a  country  boy  abided  with  him  through  life.  He 
was  a  lover  of  the  woods,  the  streams,  the  mountain  and  the 
shore  and  he  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  wild 
birds  and  animals,  the  study  of  which  was  to  him  a  constant 
delight.  It  was  in  the  woods  that  he  found  relaxation  from 
the  cares  of  life  and  it  was  on  one  of  his  annual  excursions 
to  the  wilds  of  Maine  that  death  claimed  him  while  yet  in  the 
prime  of  life  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  health.  The  news  of 
his  death  came  as  a  sudden  shock  to  his  friends,  for  his  nat- 
urally strong  constitution  and  correct  habits  of  living  justi- 
fied the  expectation  that  he  would  enjoy  a  ripe  old  age. 

In  his  death  a  notable  figure  has  passed  away ;  a  strong, 
forceful  character ;  a  power  for  good  whose  beneficent  in- 
fluence will  be  missed,  especially  at  this  Bar  and  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  eminently  skillful  and  learned,  an 
honor  to  the  profession. 

As  a  citizen  he  was  upright  and  public  spirited. 

As  a  friend  he  was  kind,  generous  and  true. 

Looking  back  upon  his  career  and  viewing  him  in  all  the 
relations  of  life,  we  deem  him  worthy  of  the  laurel,  and  we 
ask  for  him  a  place  upon  the  honored  roll  of  those  departed 
members  of  the  Essex  Bar  who,  each  in  his  day  and  genera- 
tion, have  contributed  to  the  public  weal. 

Me.  Henry  P.  Moulton  seconded  the  request  of  the  me- 
morialist as  follows : 

The  announcement  of  Mr.  Burley's  death  came  to  his  friends 
and  associates  as  a  shock  and  a  surprise.  So  long  as  his 
brethren  at  the  Bar  knew  him,  he  was  a  man  in  the  full  pos- 
session of  bodily  strength,  with  a  mental  power  not  impaired 
by  years,  but  matured  and  strengthened  by  along  and  varied 
experience.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he  had  practised 
his  profession  in  this  county,  and  his  reputation  was  not  con- 


186  ELBRIDGE  T.   BTJRLEY. 

fined  to  the  limits  of  the  county,  nor  even  to  those  of  the 
Commonwealth.  He  had  long  been  looked  upon  as  a  learned 
lawyer,  a  safe  counsellor,  and  a  logical  and  convincing 
advocate.  That  he  was  a  man  of  marked  individuality 
was  apparent  upon  the  slightest  acquaintance  with  him. 
It  may  be  true,  as  a  general  rule,  that  men  think  the 
thoughts  of  others  and  are  inclined  to  accept  readily  con- 
ventional standards  of  life  and  conduct.  Such  suggestions 
have  little  application  to  Mr.  Burley.  He  deliberated  and 
attained  his  own  results ;  he  acted  on  his  own  carefully 
formed  opinions ;  he  had  a  high  standard  of  moral  and  intel- 
lectual attainment ;  it  was  a  standard  of  his  own,  and  by  it 
he  measured  the  acts,  opinions  and  words  of  himself  and 
others.  If  at  times  his  censure  was  too  severe,  he  never 
spared  himself.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  feeling  and  opinion 
and  of  high  principle.  Such  men  are  sometimes  wrong,  but 
never  intentionally  unjust.  He  was  a  man  of  the  highest 
integrity,  a  lover  of  justice,  a  lawyer  whose  talents  and  learn- 
ing were  devoted  not  only  to  the  advantage  of  his  clients, 
but  to  the  benefit  of  the  community  where  his  influence  was 
felt,  a  man  who,  by  living  well,  has  lived  long,  and  has  left 
behind  him  the  record  of  an  honorable  and  useful  career. 

I  respectfully  second  the  request  that  the  memorial  pre- 
sented by  Colonel  Sweeney  may  be  placed  upon  the  records 
of  the  Court. 

Response  of  Mr.  Justice  James  M.  Barker  : — 

I  regret  that  it  was  not  my  privilege  to  have  had  more 
acquaintance  with  the  brother  whose  life  and  services  are  fitly 
spoken  of  in  this  memorial,  and  which  are  the  subject  of  your 
thought  at  this  time.  It  so  happens  that  during  all  of  the 
years  that  I  have  been  upon  the  bench,  this  is  the  first  court 
of  my  own  that  I  have  held  in  Salem,  the  first  jury  of  Essex 
county  that  I  have  seen,  and  that  my  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  work  in  court  of  Essex  lawyers  has  been  that  which 
has  come  under  my  observation  when  they  have  appeared 
in  other  counties. 


ELBRIDGE  T.   BTJRLEY.  187 

I  early  heard  of  the  standing,  the  reputation,  the  services 
of  the  brother  whose  memory  youdes  ire  to  perpetuate.  The 
justices  of  the  court  upon  which  I  first  served,  coming  from 
sittings  in  Essex  county,  were  wont  to  speak  of  the  men 
who  were  prominent  at  the  Essex  Bar  ;  and  always  that  talk 
and  conversation  included  the  mention  of  Mr.  Burley.  I  do 
not  know  how  many  times  the  late  Mr.  Justice  Pitman,  the 
late  Chief  Justice  Brigham  and  other  justices  of  the  Super- 
ior Court  have  spoken  of  him  in  my  presence,  and  always 
with  appreciation  of  his  learning,  of  his  integrity,  of  his  sym- 
pathy with  truth  and  of  his  scorn  of  wrong,  always  with  ap- 
preciation of  the  great  value  of  his  life  and  services.  Under- 
standing that  this  memorial  was  to  be  presented  at  this  sit- 
ting, I  spoke  with  my  present  associates,  and  particularly 
with  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  with 
reference  to  what  should  be  said  about  Brother  Burley,  in 
response  to  such  remarks  of  the  Bar  as  should  be  made  on 
this  occasion.  The  Chief  Justice  said  to  me  that  I  need  not 
hesitate  in  saying  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  Court  he  was  a 
lawyer  whose  memory  was  eminently  worthy  of  being  per- 
petuated by  a  memorial  to  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the 
Court,  and  that  whatever  was  said  by  Mr.  Burley  had  the 
seal  and  stamp  of  the  utmost  truth  and  fidelity,  both  to  his 
clients  and  to  the  Court. 

I  remember  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  young  lawyer,  seeing 
come  into  my  own  county  a  figure  which  seemed  to  me  one 
of  distinction  and  of  strength ;  and  I  think  that  all  of  the 
members  of  the  Essex  Bar  will  say  that  when  the  late  Otis 
P.  Lord  appeared  you  saw  a  man  from  whom  you  expected 
decisions  of  strength  and  vigor.  And  when  first  it  was  my 
fortune  to  see  Brother  Burley,  I  said  to  myself,  **  Here  is  a 
strong  resemblance  to  Mr.  Justice  Lord."  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  has  been  remarked  by  others,  but  it  was  by  me. 

I  never  saw  Mr.  Burley  in  court  but  a  few  times,  but  when 
I  heard  him  argue  before  the  full  bench  I  was  reminded  of 
the  resemblance  and  impressed  with  what  is  also  stated  to  be 
the  fact  in  these  memorials — that  he  was  a  man  of  learning, 


188  ELBRIDGE   T.   BURLEY. 

of  directness  of  purpose,  of  force,  a  man  whose  bearing  and 
whose  statements  showed  that  what  he  said  was  the  result  of 
reflection  and  of  meditation,  and,  in  fact,  a  man  forceful, 
strong,  having  confidence  in  himself  and  as  it  seemed  to  me 
deserving  the  confidence  of  others. 

I  did  not  know  whether  it  would  turn  out  to  be  so,  but  I 
wondered  upon  first  seeing  him  whether  he  was  of  that  strong 
band  who  come  into  Massachusetts  from  the  North  to  render 
service  and  attain  distinction.  It  turns  out  that  he  was,  and 
also  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  going  back  yearly  to  his 
mother  state,  and  planting  his  foot  upon  his  native  soil,  to 
renew  his  strength  and  vigor  by  communion  with  nature. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  was  fitting  and  proper  for  the  Essex 
Bar  to  have  seen  to  it  that  this  memorial,  carefully  prepared, 
appreciative  and  true,  should  be  presented  to  the  Court,  and 
preserved  in  the  records  of  the  county  in  which  he  lived. 

The  fact  that  the  Bar  attend  in  numbers  at  this  presenta- 
tion, the  fact  that  my  brother  (Mr.  Justice  Hammond  of  the 
Superior  Court)  has  adjourned  his  Court  and  has  come  to 
listen  to  the  action  of  the  Bar,  all  shows  that  our  departed 
brother  was  worthy  of  this  testimonial. 

The  motion  of  the  Bar  is  acceded  to  ;  this  memorial  and 
such  of  the  remarks  as  have  been  made  in  seconding  it,  as 
the  Bar  may  desire  may  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the 
Court,  and,  as  a  further  mark  of  appreciation  of  the  services 
of  our  departed  brother,  this  Court  will  now  stand  adjourned. 


STEPHEN  H.  PHILLIPS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  in  the 
Court  House  at  Salem,  April  26,  1897,  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  Messrs.  James  A.  Gillis,  Wm.  D.  Northend,  Daniel 
Saunders,  Dean  Peabody  and  John  W.  Porter  was  appointed 
to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Me.  Stephen  H.  Phillips,  to  be 
presented  to  the  Superior  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  held  at  Salem,  June  17, 1897,  Justice 
Sheldon  presiding,  Mr.  James  A.  Gillis  for  the  Essex 
Bar  Association,  presented  the  following  memorial. 

May  it  please  the  Court  : — It  is  a  trite  observation 
concerning  lawyers,  that  however  distinguished  they  may  be, 
however  great  their  triumphs  at  the  Bar  and  however  wide 
their  fame,  their  work  is  in  general  such  that  the  recollection 
of  it  soon  fades  away,  and  in  a  few  generations  there  remains 
only  the  name  in  connection  with  their  cases  in  the  Reports, 
which  themselves  tend  to  become  antiquated,  and  less  and 
less  referred  to  as  new  principles  and  new  decisions  take 
their  places.  It  is  therefore  the  custom  of  the  Essex  Bar  to 
cause  to  be  made  a  brief  but  permanent  record  of  the  history 
and  character  of  its  members  for  the  perusal,  and  possibly  for 
the  example,  of  those  who  shall  follow  them  in  the  practice 
of  their  profession. 

In  accordance  with  this  custom  a  memorial  of  Stephen 
Henry  Phillips,  long  a  prominent  and  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  this  Bar  has  been  prepared. 

Mr.  Phillips  was  born  in  Salem,  August  16,  1823,  and 
died  April  8,  1897,  being  nearly  seventy-four  years  of  age. 
He  leaves  a  widow  and  two  sons,  Stephen  Willard  and 
James  Duncan. 

He  came  of  a  distinguished  ancestry.  His  father  was 
Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips,  born  in  Salem  ;  in  earlier  life  one 


190  STEPHEN  H.   PHILLIPS. 

of  the  few  remaining  merchants  of  commercial  Salem,  for  sev. 
eral  years  a  member  of  Congress,  the  second  Mayor,  and 
chief  organizer  of  the  schools  of  Salem,  and  always  an  influ- 
ential and  highly  valued  citizen  of  his  native  city.  Going 
back  to  remoter  times  we  find  as  his  ancestor,  the  Rev.  George 
Phillips,  an  eminent  divine  and  a  founder  of  Watertown,  who 
landed  with  Winthrop,  in  Salem,  in  1630.  His  descendant, 
Deacon  Stephen  Phillips  settled  in  Marblehead,  of  whom  it  is 
recorded,  that  he  there  presided  as  moderator  of  a  stormy 
town  meeting  in  1773,  called  to  make  protest  against  the  Bos- 
ton Port  Bill.  His  grandfather,  Stephen  Phillips,  was  a  lead- 
ing merchant  and  citizen  of  Marblehead.  From  the  same 
ancestor,  Rev.  George  Phillips,  were  descended  the  Andover 
Phillipses,  who  gave  the  name  to  the  Academies  at  Andover 
and  Exeter ;  the  Revolutionary  Patriot  of  Boston,  William 
Phillips ;  his  son  Jonathan  Phillips,  the  first  mayor  of  Boston  ; 
and  at  a  later  day,  Wendell  Phillips  and  the  lamented  Phil- 
lips Brooks. 

In  1836,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  Stephen  was  placed  in  a 
classical  school  at  Washington,  his  father  being  then  in  Con- 
gress, and  he  entered  Harvard  College  in  1838,  graduating 
in  1842,  and  thereafter  spent  three  years  in  the  Dane  Law 
School  at  Cambridge.  Among  his  associates  there  were  the 
late  President  Hayes,  Chief  Justice  Peters  of  Maine,  Chief 
Justice  Morton  of  Massachusetts,  Chief  Justice  Bradford  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  others  who  have  since  risen  to  high  dis- 
tinction in  their  profession. 

After  graduating  at  the  Law  School  he  entered  the  office 
of  the  Honorable  Benjamin  R.  Curtis  of  Boston,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  in  1846,  connecting  himself 
in  business  with  the  Honorable  George  P.  Sanger,  after- 
wards a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  For  four 
years,  from  1847  to  1850  inclusive,  he  was  editor  of  the  Law 
Reporter.  In  1850  he  removed  his  office  to  Salem  where 
his  active  practice  as  an  advocate  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced. In  1851  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Boutwell 
District  Attorney  for  the  County  of  Essex,  which  office  he 


STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS.  191 

held  two  years,  resigning  at  the  end  of  that  time,  when  the 
Honorable  Alfred  A.  Abbott  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

In  1856  and  1857  he  was  the  city  solicitor  of  Salem,  and 
in  the  latter  year,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  he  was  elected 
Attorney  General  for  the  Commonwealth.  He  served  in 
this  office  three  years,  but  declined  a  fourth  nomination. 
His  able  and  faithful  assistant  in  this  office,  mainly  in  the 
preparation  of  cases  for  argument  before  the  Supreme  Bench, 
was  William  G.  Choate,  since  United  States  Judge  for  the 
District  of  New  York. 

While  Attorney  General  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Banks  Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  Massachusetts 
Militia. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Phillips  accepted  an  appointment  from  King 
Kammehamaha  as  Attorney  General  of  the  Hawaiian  Gov- 
ernment, this  constituting  him  one  of  the  four  cabinet  min- 
isters. Subsequently  he  performed  the  duties  of  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  and  also  acted  at  times  as  the  Minister  of 
Finance. 

These  islands  of  the  Pacific  though  small  in  extent  have 
been  for  many  years  and  for  various  reasons  the  object  of 
especial  interest  to  other  and  more  powerful  nations,  and 
the  duties  which  Mr.  Phillips  was  called  upon  to  perform  in 
the  discharge  of  his  different  offices  were  in  many  respects 
of  a  difficult  and  delicate  nature.  It  was  no  easy  task  to 
reconcile  conflicting  interests,  foreign  and  domestic,  to  re- 
strain the  influences  which  might  tend  to  the  detriment  of 
the  country  which  he  represented,  and  still  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  Governments  with  which  Hawaii  maintained  dip- 
lomatic relations.  That  he  was  equal  to  his  task  and  that 
his  duties  were  satisfactorily  performed,  appears  from  the 
fact  that  he  remained  in  the  cabinet  till  it  was  dissolved 
upon  the  death  of  the  King  and  the  accession  of  a  new  ruler. 

In  1871  Mr.  Phillips  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  the 
Honorable  James  H.  Duncan,  of  Haverhill,  for  some  years 
a  member  of  Congress  for  Massachusetts.  In  1873,  he  re- 
turned to  this  country  and  established  himself  in  San  Fran- 


192  STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS. 

cisco,  practising  his  profession  there  for  some  years.  He 
was  chosen  President  of  the  Harvard  Club  of  that  city.  He 
then  returned  to  Salem,  where,  with  the  exception  of  a  short 
residence  in  Danvers,  he  remained  until  the  close  of  his  life. 

Though  always  taking  a  great  interest  in  politics,  Mr. 
Phillips  was  not  a  politician.  He  never  held  in  this  country 
any  office  other  than  a  professional  one.  At  the  time  he 
came  to  the  Bar  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  was 
crystallizing  in  the  Free  Soil  movement,  the  precursor  of  the 
Republican  Party  of  1856.  Into  this  movement  and  subse- 
quently into  the  formation  of  the  new  party  he  entered  with 
characteristic  energy  and  ardor.  In  1856  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  first  Republican  National  Convention  where  Fremont 
was  nominated,  and  the  writer  well  remembers  the  impres- 
sion made  by  his  speech  at  a  ratification  meeting  at  Salem, 
and  the  eloquent  and  finished  eulogium  which  he  delivered 
upon  the  services  and  character  of  the  nominee.  He  was 
also  a  delegate  to  the  National  convention  of  1860,  when 
Lincoln  was  the  Republican  nominee. 

From  the  inception  of  the  party  and  throughout  the  war 
he  labored  earnestly  and  effectually  in  the  support  of  its 
principles  and  its  administration,  faithfully  and  loyally  ad- 
hering to  it  till  his  departure  from  the  country  for  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Phillips,  however  mindful  of  other  duties,  was  above 
all  a  lawyer.  To  him  the  practice  of  his  profession  was  of 
absorbing  interest.  At  the  Law  School  and  in  the  office  of 
Judge  Curtis  he  was  a  diligent  and  devoted  student  and  he 
had  the  advantage  of  the  ablest  teaching.  Professor  Green- 
leaf,  and  Judge  Story  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
were  both  lecturers  at  the  School  in  his  day,  and  he  would 
often  speak  of  them,  particularly  of  the  latter  upon  whose 
quaint  remarks  and  apt  illustrations  he  would  like  to  dwell. 
He  entered  upon  his  profession  thoroughly  equipped,  his 
mind  fully  stored  with  legal  principles,  and  success  came  to 
him  early. 

In  his  offices  of  District  Attorney  and  Attorney  General 
(both  of  which  impose  great  responsibilities  upon  the  incum- 


STEPHEN   H.    PHILLIPS.  193 

bent  and  demand  of  him  judicial  qualities  as  well  as  those 
of  the  advocate),  he  showed  a  great  legal  acumen,  a  business 
capacity  of  a  high  order,  and  a  spirit  of  justice  and  humanity 
towards  all  with  whom  his  duties  brought  him  in  contact. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  while  holding  this  latter  office 
it  became  his  duty  to  prepare  the  papers  under  which  Judge 
Loring  was  removed  from  his  position  of  Judge  of  Probate 
in  Suffolk  County  bjr  process  of  address  by  the  Legislature 
to  Governor  Banks,  an  event  which  caused  great  excitement 
at  the  time  and  which  was  wholly  without  precedent  in 
Massachusetts. 

A  marked  instance  of  his  tact  and  skill  in  the  manage- 
ment of  men  may  be  found  in  his  dealings  with  the  work- 
men of  Lynn  at  a  period  succeeding  the  financial  crisis  of 
1857,  when  a  serious  and  general  strike  was  impending  not 
only  in  that  city  but  in  other  parts  of  Essex  county.  Mr. 
Phillips  went  quietly  over  to  Lynn,  addressed  the  workmen, 
and  his  calm  and  judicious  counsel  was  largely  instrumental 
in  averting  the  threatened  disaster. 

In  1860,  when  about  leaving  office  he  was  appointed,  with 
ex- Governor  Clifford,  Commissioner  in  the  matter  of  the 
Rhode  Island  boundary.  They  were  in  Washington  upon 
this  business,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  January,  1861,  they 
there  addressed  a  confidential  letter  to  Governor  Andrew, 
setting  forth  that  they  had  been  authorized  by  Mr.  Stanton, 
then  Attorney  General  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  cabinet,  to  say 
that  it  was  his  opinion  that  there  was  imminent  if  not  inevi- 
table peril  of  an  attack  upon  the  city  of  Washington  between 
the  4th  and  15th  of  February.  Governor  Claflin,  in  his 
address  in  1871  upon  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Governor 
Andrew,  attributes  to  this  letter  the  advanced  state  of 
preparation  which  enabled  Massachusetts  regiments  to  be 
among  the  earliest  to  reach  Washington,  when  President 
Lincoln  issued  his  first  call  for  troops. 

In  his  general  practice,  as  well  as  when  acting  in  his 
official  capacity,  Mr.  Phillips  was  careful  and  painstaking, 
preparing  his  cases   with  diligence  and  trying  them  vigor- 


194  STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS. 

ously  and  effectively.  In  the  regular  routine  of  his  office 
practice,  I  think  there  were  few  lawyers  who  could  compare 
with  him.  No  one  familiar  with  his  early  career  could  have 
failed  to  notice  his  systematic  care  of  papers,  his  methodical 
arrangement  of  business,  his  strict  and  conscientious  regard 
for  the  rights  and  interests  of  his  clients,  his  determination 
not  to  allow  his  cases  to  lag  or  fall  behind  their  proper  time 
of  trial. 

He  was  a  fluent  speaker,  having  great  command  of  lan- 
guage and  rising  easily  to  flights  of  eloquence.  As  an  ex- 
ample of  graceful  and  impressive  oratory,  the  writer  calls  to 
mind  his  remarks  before  the  Bar  at  the  time  of  the  decease 
of  Chief  Justice  Shaw. 

He  had  much  personal  influence  with  juries.  His  fine  and 
prepossessing  appearance,  his  fairness  in  presenting  his  case, 
his  freedom  from  anything  like  artifice  or  attempt  at  sophis- 
tical reasoning,  could  not  but  make  a  favorable  impression. 
His  arguments  were  some  of  them  models  of  their  kind,  terse, 
vigorous  and  logical,  and  whether  before  court  or  jury,  they 
were  marked  with  one  peculiarity :  he  seldom  made  much 
reference  to  the  arguments  upon  the  other  side.  He  did  not 
take  them  up  one  after  the  other,  and  endeavor  to  refute  them, 
as  is  sometimes  done,  but  he  presented  his  own  views  in  his 
own  way,  his  mind  apparently  running  in  its  own  groove  and 
following  out  its  own  train  of  thought. 

Another  distinguishing  characteristic  was  his  courage  and 
his  entire  confidence  in  himself.  He  never  shrank  from  any 
encounter  nor  from  any  odds.  Though  ardent  and  aggres- 
sive in  the  trial  of  his  cases,  he  never  overstepped  the  limits 
of  decorum  nor  failed  in  that  politeness  and  good  treatment 
which  he  felt  was  due  to  his  brethren  at  the  Bar.  But  his 
combative  instincts  were  by  no  means  wanting,  and  if  aroused 
by  what  he  thought  unjust  or  unfair  treatment  of  his  client 
or  himself,  his  opponent  was  given  ample  opportunity  to  know 
that  there  were  blows  to  take  as  well  as  blows  to  give. 

Mr.  Phillips  never  mingled  largely  in  general  society,  find- 
ing great  comfort  and  pleasure  in  his  home  and  with   his 


STEPHEN   H.    PHILLIPS.  195 

books.  His  memory  was  most  tenacious,  and  his  stores  of 
accumulated  knowledge  were  always  at  his  command.  His 
information  he  seemed  to  assimilate  perfectly,  making  it  a 
part  of  himself.  In  speaking  of  some  historical  occurrence 
he  would  not  refer  to  an  author,  or  suggest  that  "  such  and 
such  a  one  remarks."  What  he  knew  he  knew ;  and  however 
acquired,  it  was  not  to  him  the  product  of  another  mind,  but 
became,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  the  texture  of  his  own. 

As  one  instance  of  his  power  to  preserve  a  polite  accom- 
plishment amidst  the  cares  of  a  busy  life,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  in  Salem,  a  few  years  ago,  he  addressed  an  audience  of 
French  Canadians  upon  political  subjects  in  their  own  lan- 
guage. 

His  incursions  into  general  literature  were  largely  in  the 
direction  of  history  and  biography,  his  mind,  essentially  prac- 
tical, dealing  with  men  and  with  the  world  and  what  he  found 
in  it ;  but  he  enjoyed  poetry  of  a  high  order.  In  this  field 
his  favorite  reading  was  Paradise  Lost,  whose  lofty  theme 
and  stately  movement  seemed  especially  congenial  to  his 
taste.  He  was  not  much  given  to  theological  or  philosophic 
speculation.  Of  these  he  spoke  little,  nor  much  of  his  relig- 
ious belief ;  but  those  who  knew  him  best,  knew  that  he  had 
a  simple  faith  and  that  he  held  it  firmly. 

In  this  brief  memorial  the  effort  has  been  not  to  write  in  a 
strain  of  unvarying  eulogy,  but  to  present  to  some  extent  a 
discriminating  picture  of  Mr.  Phillips'  character  and  life. 
Time  does  not  permit  me  to  speak  of  his  pleasant  manner, 
his  genial  disposition,  his  kindness  of  heart,  his  attention  to 
young  men,  his  readiness  to  lend  a  helping  hand.  There  are 
those  who  will  never  forget  their  obligations  to  him  for  favors 
rendered  in  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  way,  but  which  in 
some  instances  have  affected  the  whole  lives  of  their  recipi- 
ents. 

When  Mr.  Phillips  commenced  his  practice  in  Salem, 
Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  then  perhaps  the  leader  at  the  Bar,  was 
just  retiring  with  broken  health.  Mr.  Huntington,  long  the 
distinguished  prosecuting  officer  of  the  Essex  District,  had 


196  STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS. 

become  clerk  of  courts ;  George  Wheatland  was  ju§t  resuming 
his  practice  at  the  Bar ;  Judge  Lord  was  fast  rising  to  that 
eminence  which  awaited  him ;  Judge  Perkins,  afterwards 
practising  extensively  in  the  courts,  was  then  upon  the  Bench 
of  the  old  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  Judge  Thompson  was 
in  Benjamin  F.  Hallett's  office  in  Boston  ;  Eben  F.  Stone,  at 
the  commencement  of  his  career,  librarian  in  the  Dane  Law 
School,  was  a  young  man,  giving  promise  of  his  future  dis 
tinction ;  Judge  Choate  had  been  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and 
Stephen  B.  Ives  was  pursuing  his  studies  in  the  office  of 
Messrs.  Northend  &  Choate  ;  in  Middlesex,  a  group  of  able 
lawyers,  occasionally  appearing  in  cases  in  this  county,  were 
in  practice,  among  them  General  Butler,  Judge  Abbott,  G. 
A.  Somerby,  Theodore  H.  Sweetser,  J.  Q.  A.  Griffin,  and 
George  F.  Farley. 

Upon  the  Supreme  Bench  was  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  with 
Wilde,  Dewey,  Metcalf,  Fletcher  and  Bigelow  as  his  associ- 
ates. In  this  Court  Caleb  Cushing  was  soon  to  take  his  seat. 
John  H.  Clifford  was  the  Attorney  General. 

Among  these  distinguished  men,  and  others  now  living, 
Mr.  Phillips  took  a  recognized  place.  Those  whom  I  have 
named,  and  he,  have  played  their  part  upon  the  stage  of 
life  and  have  passed  away  ;  but  with  those  who  knew  these 
bright  ornaments  of  the  Bench  and  Bar,  who  have  met  or 
walked  with  them  in  the  paths  of  the  law,  their  memory  will 
be  always  green. 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  I  respectfully  re- 
quest that  this  Memorial  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the 
Court. 

Mr.  William  D.  Northend  said : 

The  memorial  that  has  been  read  is  a  truthful  and  just 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Phillips.  My  acquaintance 
with  him  commenced  on  the  opening  of  his  office  in  Salem, 
we  were  thrown  much  together  in  our  practice,  and  a  strong 
friendship  grew  up  between  us  which  continued  to  the  last. 
I  can  bear  witness  to  his  conscientious  efforts  to  prevent  de- 


STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS.  197 

lay  in  the  trial  of  his  cases  which  at  times  caused  temporary- 
irritation  on  the  part  of  the  opposing  counsel  who  were  more 
lax  in  their  practice.  He  prepared  his  cases  carefully  and 
was  ready  on  all  points  of  law  raised  on  a  trial.  He  was  pru- 
dent in  his  examination  of  witnesses  and  argued  his  cases 
ably  and  sometimes  with  great  eloquence.  He  was  a  thorough 
student  of  the  law  ;  he  prepared  a  treatise  upon  law  which  he 
was  prevented  by  illness  from  completing. 

In  private  life,  Mr.  Phillips  was  one  of  the  most  estimable 
of  men.  He  had  a  remarkable  memory,  and  in  the  society 
of  his  friends  was  most  interesting. 

I  cordially  second  the  request  that  the  excellent  Memorial 
just  read  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Reply  of  Justice  Henry  N.  Sheldon: — 

Brethren  of  the  Bar  : — Although  it  was  never  my 
good  fortune  personally  to  meet  the  late  Mr.  Phillips,  it  is  no 
less  a  pleasure  to  me  than  to  you  that  so  just  and  discrimi- 
nating a  testimonial  to  his  worth  should  be  put  upon  record 
for  the  instruction  and  example  of  those  who  are  hereafter  to 
practice  at  this  bar.  It  has  been  well  said  in  your  memorial 
that  the  fame  of  a  lawyer,  however  brilliant  and  distinguished 
may  have  been  his  professional  achievements  and  triumphs, 
and  however  great  and  far-reaching  the  services  which  he  has 
been  able  to  render  to  the  community  in  which  he  lived,  and 
to  other  communities,  as  was  the  case  with  our  deceased 
brother,  can  be  but  ephemeral.  In  a  few  days  he  is  gone ; 
and  the  busy  associates  who  labored  in  his  company  in  his 
lifetime  can  scarcely  do  more  than  occasionally  to  recall  the 
fragrant  memories  of  his  career ;  in  a  few  days  more,  they 
too  rest  from  their  earthly  labors,  a  new  generation  comes 
upon  the  scene  ;  and  his  very  name  becomes  unfamiliar  in 
the  haunts  of  living  men.  And  yet  it  is  not  well  that  we 
should  regard  this  as  a  hardship  peculiar  to  the  members  of 
our  profession  ;  it  is  the  common  lot  of  man. 

"  Whatever  'scaped  oblivion's  subtle  wrong, 

Save  a  few  clarion  names  or  golden  threads  of  song  ?  " 


198  STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS. 

The  memory  of  the  individual  may  and  does  fade  away  ; 
but  the  result  of  the  good  work  which  he  has  done  remains 
as  a  permanent  advantage  to  his  race.  The  increasing  pur- 
pose which  runs  through  the  ages,  the  continued  progress  of 
humanity,  its  advancement  in  sound  intelligence  and  good 
morals,  its  growth  in  wisdom  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  development  spiritual,  mental  and  material, — all  these  are 
not  only  manifested  in  but  result  directly  from  the  separate 
lives  of  those  individual  members  of  the  community  who, 
each  in  his  own  sphere,  each  with  that  degree  of  influence 
which  varying  circumstances  enable  him  to  exert,  do  the  par- 
ticular duty  that  comes  to  each  one  of  them,  render,  both  by 
direct  action  and  by  force  of  example,  what  service  they  can 
to  their  fellowmen,  their  country  and  their  race,  and  thus 
contribute — each  one  perhaps,  however  brilliant  his  talents, 
and  however  dazzling  his  successes  may  seem  to  us,  only  in 
a  slight  degree,  and  yet  surely  each  one  in  some  degree  and 
to  some  extent, — to  the  furtherance  of  the  divine  scheme  in 
which  it  is  at  any  rate  our  privilege  to  strive  that  we  may  be 
co-workers.  And  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  one  of  the  advan- 
tages of  our  profession  that  we  are  sometimes  able  to  con- 
tribute more  largely  than  if  we  were  engaged  in  some  other 
field  of  labor  towards  the  attainment  of  this  end.  I  do  not 
need  here,  speaking  to  you  the  representatives  of  the  bar  of 
this  county,  to  emphasize  or  even  to  dwell  upon  the  services 
which  a  learned,  laborious  and  conscientious  bar  render  both 
to  individual  men  and  to  the  country.  It  is  our  object  to 
assist  in  the  ascertainment  of  truth,  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  to  secure  to  all  their  rights,  to  prevent  injustice  and 
wrong  doing ;  and  however  we  may  sometimes  fall  short  of 
success,  however  flagrant  may  be  some  of  our  failures,  it  is 
yet,  I  think,  true  that  in  the  main  right  conclusions  are  ar- 
rived at  in  our  courts  of  justice ;  and  that  the  theory  upon 
which  our  law  is  framed  and  administered,  that  in  all  dis- 
puted matters  of  law  or  fact,  justice  is  best  attained  by 
affording  to  each  litigant  the  ablest  and  keenest  professional 
assistance  with  an  impartial  tribunal  to  pass  finally  upon  the 


STEPHEN   H.   PHILLIPS.  199 

issue,  is  borne  out  and  sustained  by  the  results.  Still,  as  you 
all  know,  the  best  work  of  the  practising  lawyer  is  not  done 
in  the  court-room ;  it  must  be  done  in  his  office,  as  the  wise 
adviser  of  those  who  resort  to  him,  looking  not  alone  to  bare 
legal  rights,  but  to  the  real  and  lasting  advantage  of  those 
who  consult  him,  and  to  the  general  good  of  the  community. 
The  integrity  of  the  really  upright  lawyer  is  not  a  mere 
abstraction,  his  good  will  to  mankind  is  not  a  merely  vague 
and  easy-going  feeling  of  good  nature  ;  his  patriotism  is  not 
content  with  expressing  itself  in  platitudes  about  his  country  ; 
he  knows  and  pursues  the  right,  not  only  as  defined  by  the 
law  of  man,  but  in  that  deeper  as  well  as  more  practical  ap- 
plication in  which  the  law  of  man  does  not  attempt  to  deal 
with  it.  He  is  not  a  stirrer  up  of  strife  ;  rather,  he  composes 
differences,  both  by  wise  avoidance  and  by  actual  reconcilia- 
tion or  judicious  compromise.  Renown  may  be  but  a  builder 
of  tombs  ;  wit  may  be  but  a  life  estate  ;  the  best  and  strong- 
est of  us  may  be  but  leaves,  whose  decay  no  harvest  sows ; 
and  yet  the  work  of  such  a  man  does  represent,  does  consti- 
tute an  imperishable  gain;  it  has  been  his  opportunity  and 
his  privilege  to  contribute  more  largely  than  most  of  his 
fellow  men  to  the  advancement  of  his  race,  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  humanity. 

This  opportunity,  as  is  well  shown  by  your  Memorial,  was 
largely  enjoyed  by  our  deceased  brother.  His  life  has  not 
only  covered  a  longer  period  of  years,  but  his  labors  have  been 
more  diversified  and  have  extended  over  a  much  larger  por- 
tion of  the  world,  than  can  be  the  case  with  most  men.  And 
he  met  successfully  the  different  demands  which  were  made 
upon  him.  Born  of  a  distinguished  ancestry,  he  has  not 
fallen  below  the  standard  which  was  thus  set  before  him.  He 
has  earned  the  respect  and  the  affection  of  those  who  were 
conversant  with  him.  It  is  fitting  that  his  memory  should 
be  honored  and  cherished. 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Bar,  your  Memorial 
with  a  minute  of  these  proceedings  will  be  entered  upon  the 
records  of  the  Court. 


THOMAS  M.  STIMPSON. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  Novem- 
ber 1,  1898,  Messrs.  Henry  P.  Moulton,  Alden  P.  White, 
Benjamin  G.  Hall  and  Joseph  F.  Hannon,  were  chosen  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Mr.  Thomas  M.  Stimp- 
son  for  presentation  to  the  Superior  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  at  Salem,  on  Friday,  February  3, 1899, 
Mr.  Justice  Richardson,  the  presiding  Judge  and  with 
him  Mr.  Justice  Hardy  on  the  Bench,  Mr.  Alden  P. 
White  for  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  presented  the  fol- 
lowing memorial. 

May  it  please  the  Court: — On  behalf  of  the  Essex 
Bar,  I  formally  announce  the  death  of  Thomas  Morrill 
Stimpson,  of  Peabody,  an  attorney  of  this  Court.  He  died 
suddenly  at  his  home,  on  the  morning  of  September  30th, 
1898,  having  rounded  out  the  three  score  years  and  ten. 

The  time  and  attention  of  the  Court  is  respectfully  in- 
voked while  we  who  knew  him,  unite  to  formal  spoken  offer- 
ing, the  rare  tribute  of  unqualified  silent  eulogy. 

No  recollections  of  his  earlier  life  can  here  be  given.  He 
was  a  generation  older  than  the  two  younger  men  with  whom 
he  shared  offices  in  this  city  for  the  last  fifteen  years.  I  am 
speaking  only  of  the  impressions  of  this  period.  They  were 
made  at  close  range. 

The  few  survivors  of  his  college  class,  Amherst,  1850, 
looking  back  nearly  fifty  years,  use  just  such  terms  in  regard 
to  his  youth  as  we  should  expect : — "  Exceeding  quiet  man- 
ners," "Amiable,  kindly  and  friendly,"  "Honorable,  high- 
minded,  winning  universal  respect,"  "  Without  a  stain,  sub- 
terfuge, or  moral  blemish."  As  an  under-graduate  he  was 
especially  proficient  in  mathematics.  With  a  tendency  thus 
induced  to  accurate  thinking,  when  he  directed  his  mind  to 


THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON.  201 

the  study  of  his  chosen  profession  he  mastered  and  absorbed 
its  principles.  He  saw  the  ground  of  their  existence  in 
reason  ;  he  comprehended  the  logic  of  their  inter-relation  in 
the  complex  fabric  of  Law. 

He  was  fortunate,  too,  in  pursuing  his  studies  in  the  office 
of  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  a  leader  of  the  Bar  in  his  day  and  gen- 
eration, not  less  able,  at  least,  than  that  distinguished  brother 
who  honored  this  Bar  upon  the  Bench  of  our  highest  Court. 

With  the  comparatively  rare  faculties  which  make  up  a 
legal  mind,  Mr.  Stimpson  had  a  marvellously  retentive  mem- 
ory. It  was  responsive  not  alone  to  questions  of  practical 
importance,  but  to  matters  of  abstruse  and  obsolete  learning. 
My  office  associate  recalls  how  a  well  known  scholarly  anti- 
quarian, having  vainly  puzzled  over  a  very  ancient  writ, 
brought  it,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  friend,  to  Mr.  Stimpson, 
who  won  the  lasting  admiration  of  his  visitor  by  straightway 
identifying  the  instrument  and  denning  its  origin  and  use. 

His  method  of  preparation  and  study  was  quite  his  own, 
and  sometimes  tried  the  patience  of  client  or  associate  coun- 
sel. He  was  inclined  to  ignore  the  axiom  as  to  the  straight 
line.  Little  by-paths  invited  his  exploration  ;  "  queries  " 
posted  along  the  way  diverted  his  attention.  Yet  when  a 
real  emergency  came,  when  confronted  by  an  issue  of  impor- 
tance as  to  which  there  was  no  sound  precedent,  his  self-re- 
liance and  boldness  became  superb.  Then,  trampling  down 
underbrush  which  would  trouble  lesser  minds,  he  hewed  for 
himself  a  path  out  of  difficulties,  straight  and  clear,  and 
whosoever  walked  therein  found  safety  and  relief. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  his  business  concerned  real 
estate.  For  many  years,  and  to  his  death,  he  was  counsel  for 
a  savings  bank  of  high  standing,  represented  here  by  its 
officers,  and  no  similar  institution  ever  had  a  more  compe- 
tent and  faithful  guardian.  In  examining  titles  he  exercised 
the  utmost  care  and  thoroughness,  but  was  not  finical  nor 
hair-splitting.  He  brought  to  bear  upon  his  conclusions 
sound  sense  and  no  little  of  that  self-reliance  to  which  I  have 
referred   in  determining  whether   apparent   obstacles   were 


202  THOMAS   M.    STIMPSON. 

real  or  only  colorable  and  harmless.  In  the  construction  of 
wills  and  trusts,  and  generally  in  matters  which  lie  chiefly 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Probate  Court,  he  was  especially 
ready  and  sound.  As  an  instance  in  point,  a  judge  of  a  neigh- 
boring state  consulted  a  young  lawyer  of  this  city,  by  mail, 
in  regard  to  a  title.  The  lawyer  gave  his  views  as  to  the 
doubtful  construction  of  a  certain  will,  but  intimated  that 
it  was  necessary  to  go  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  decision.  In 
response  to  an  expressed  unwillingness  to  incur  this  expense, 
and  to  a  request  to  recommend  some  one  whose  written  opin- 
ion would  carry  great  weight,  the  local  lawyer  referred  his 
correspondent  to  Mr.  Stimpson.  Some  time  after,  the  judge 
wrote  that  he  had  read  Mr.  Stimpson's  brief  over  and  over 
again,  each  time  more  impressed  with  the  wonderful  legal 
knowledge  it  contained,  and  he  accepted  his  conclusions 
unhesitatingly. 

Personally  he  retained  the  even  tendencies  of  his  youth. 
Not  naturally  robust,  he  was  very  careful  of  himself.  He 
was  a  gentleman,  every  inch,  courteous,  kindly,  honorable  ; 
in  very  truth  without  reproach. 

He  had  many  queer  little  individualities  and  ways.  He 
seemed  to  live  farther  from  the  madding  crowd  than  most  of 
us.  No  less  remarkable  than  his  general  knowledge  was  his 
lack  of  that  common,  every  day  information  as  to  men  and 
things  which  the  average  man  absorbs  by  mere  attrition. 
He  was  not  porous  to  that  sort  of  thing.  He  was 
almost  the  last  man  to  know  who  was  "  being  mentioned  " 
for  selectman  or  for  Congress.  Sometimes  he  would  sur- 
prise us  with  sudden  interest  in  a  discovery  he  had  newly 
made  of  matter  which  was  to  others  already  ancient  history. 
But  he  kept  well  abreast  and  firmly  in  touch  with  the  larger 
questions  of  the  day,  and  had  his  own  well-defined  and  sub- 
stantiated opinions  thereon.  As  to  affairs  of  real  importance, 
whether  local  or  national,  he  was  genuinely  public-spirited. 
And  it  was  not  safe  to  assume  that  he  was  less  cognizant 
that  the  Boston  nine  had  won  the  champion  pennant  than 
that  the  Dingley  bill  had  become  the  law  of  the  land.    Hav- 


THOMAS  M.    STIMPSON.  203 

ing  no  small  skill  in  the  game,  he  followed  the  daily  reports 
of  the  international  chess  match  with  assiduous  care. 

He  gave  generously  of  his  time  and  wise  direction  both  to 
the  schools  and  public  library  of  his  native  town.  He  had 
high  ideals  of  citizenship  and  consistently  observed  them. 

He  was  an  enthusiastic  lover  of  music.  Talk  of  violins, 
and  law  was  for  the  time  abandoned.  Not  that  he  played 
much  himself ;  on  the  one  occasion  when  I  happened  to  see 
him  handle  the  bow,  the  larger  part  of  his  effort  was  ex- 
pended in  preliminary  scraping  and  tuning.  He  knew  quaint 
little  places  where  quainter  men  performed  delicate  surgery 
on  the  rare  and  precious  work  of  renowned  makers.  To 
have  heard  a  true  artist  draw  glorious  tone  from  a  genuine 
Cremona,  and  then  to  have  seen  at  close  range  and  perhaps 
have  fondled  the  instrument,  was  to  have  been  presented  to 
royalty.  For  many  years  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Salem  Ora- 
torio Society,  an  organization  of  long  and  honorable  career. 
In  the  words  of  a  tribute  recently  spread  upon  its  records : 
"  He  loved  music  with  a  keen  appreciation  born  of  a  rarely 
fine  nature,  and  to  the  study  of  the  oratorios  of  the  masters 
he  brought  a  mind  sympathetic  to  the  genius  of  the  composer 
and  a  soul  attuned  to  divinest  harmonies." 

His  vacations  were  illustrative  of  his  habits  and  tastes. 
Many  years  ago,  while  away  at  school,  I  heard  certain  wel- 
come visitors  at  the  principal's  house  talk  lovingly  of  a  sort 
of  happy  valley  isolated  somewhere  in  the  mountains,  far  from 
railroads,  tourists  and  fashion,  the  lodge-room  of  a  natural 
free-masonry  between  congenial  spirits,  who  there,  each  sum- 
mer, left  the  world  behind  and  found  pure  pleasure  and  relax- 
ation. I  was  the  merest  stranger  to  the  proceedings,  without 
password  and  countersign,  and  while  my  youthful  impression 
was  distinct  as  to  the  devotion,  it  was  vague  as  to  the  location 
of  the  shrine  and  the  personnel  of  the  worshippers.  Years 
after,  it  was  a  pleasure  to  be  able  to  identify  the  valley 
through  the  discovery  that  Mr.  Stimpson  was  himself  a 
charter  associate.  One  could  not  long  be  with  him  without 
learning  of  his  love  for  Waterville,  New  Hampshire.   Thither, 


204  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

for  thirty  years,  as  regularly  as  August  came,  he  went,  greet- 
ing the  Mad  river  as  it  rushes  out  of  the  narrow  entrance, 
paying  renewed  homage  to  the  encircling  mountains.  On 
the  top  of  the  magnificent  peak  of  Osceola,  on  the  occasion 
of  his  twenty-first  annual  ascent,  he  held  a  sort  of  coming-of- 
age  reception.  To  this  favorite  retreat  came  many  people 
from  many  callings,  of  high  character  and  unaffected  culture, 
whom  it  was  both  a  pleasure  and  a  distinct  gain  to  know. 
Change  and  progress  have  made  great  inroads  on  the  more 
primitive  conditions,  but  there  remain  those  who  will  miss 
the  genial  presence  of  him  who  has  passed  beyond  the  eternal 
hills. 

I  think  he  hoped  sometime  to  go  abroad.  I  wish  that  he 
might,  at  least,  have  wandered  through  the  Temple  and  Drury 
Lane,  that  he  might,  on  the  spot,  have  invested  the  Inns  of 
Court  and  Westminster  and  Parliament  with  those  pictures 
of  men  and  events,  creative  episodes  in  the  development  of 
English  Constitution  and  Law,  which  were  so  indelibly  im- 
printed on  his  mind.  Perhaps  he  exaggerated  the  effort 
necessary  to  carry  his  purpose  into  execution,  but  I  suspect 
that  the  ties  of  Waterville  had  much  to  do  with  the  indefinite 
postponement. 

We  smiled  whenever  he  opened  the  parcel  containing  a 
new  report,  and  we  knew  what  was  coming.  "  I  always 
make  a  practice  of  collating  the  pages,"  he  would  say,  as  if 
for  the  first  time  ;  "  I  once  received  a  volume  where  certain 
pages  were  duplicated  and  certain  others  left  out,"  and  he 
proceeded  conscientiously  to  discover  if  such  an  accident 
had  happened  again. 

He  had  no  clerk  or  assistant,  and  could  ill  have  worked 
with  one.  Modern  methods  of  dictation  were  untried.  He 
tolerated  the  typewriting  machine,  but  hardly  took  it  serious- 
ly ;  in  his  heart  he  preferred  his  own  careful  handwriting. 

His  love  for  mathematics  followed  him  into  his  early  pro- 
fessional studies  and  developed  into  a  zeal  for  astronomy.  In 
later  years  he  confessed  that  lenses  were  formerly  sore  allure- 
ments from  law,  and  that  he  had  been  too  much  engrossed  in 


THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON.  205 

constructing  a  telescope  for  himself.  It  never  occurred  to  me 
before,  but  I  now  venture  to  refer  a  seemingly  superfluous 
exactness  to  the  necessities  of  those  days  of  zenith  and  paral- 
lax. Precision  in  time  is  of  fundamental  importance  to  an 
astronomer.  If  it  began  in  this  way  I  know  not,  but  so  long 
as  we  knew  him  there  was  a  bond  of  fellowship  between  him 
and  a  certain  expert  watchmaker,  and  into  the  shop  of  the 
latter  he  was  wont  frequently  to  disappear  just  long  enough 
to  exchange  greetings,  note  the  variation  of  his  excellent 
watch  from  true  time,  and  make  a  diminutive  note  of  the  plus 
or  minus  on  a  little  slip  which  he  carried  in  his  pocketbook, 
ever  replaced  when  filled,  by  a  new  one.  We  never  discov- 
ered that  he  did  anything  with  the  old  slips,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  reconcile  this  painstaking  with  certain  other  habits, 
for,  be  his  watch  never  so  accurate,  he  was  alarmingly  dila- 
tory as  to  fixed  engagements.  There  was  no  indolence  about 
it ;  he  simply  clung  too  long  to  the  involving  work  before 
him,  and  there  inevitably  followed  the  eleventh  hour  flurry 
of  hasty  departure.  In  saying  that  no  man  bore  resentment 
to  Mr.  Stimpson,Ihopethat  I  need  not  except  the  conductors 
in  charge  of  the  quarter  of  one  street  car,  which  was  his 
conveyance  home  to  lunch.  They  seldom  wholly  escaped 
him,  but  in  his  agility  in  descending  the  office  stairs  and 
subsequent  proceedings  of  interception  there  was  a  pro 
tempore  waiver  of  dignity. 

Does  it  seem  trivial,  out  of  keeping  with  this  occasion  and 
presence,  to  recall  these  mere  personal  traits  ?  Ah,  they  en- 
tered largely  into  the  sum  total  of  the  man,  and  made  him 
as  we  knew  and  shall  remember  him.  They  were  but  oddities 
to  smile  at,  not  blemishes  to  hide.  Thackeray  said  of  Thomas 
Newcomb  :  "  But  they  who  laughed  at  the  Colonel  laughed 
very  kindly  ;  and  everybody  who  knew  him  loved  him  ;  every- 
body, that  is,  who  loved  modesty  and  generosity  and  honor." 

Defining  a  lawyer  as  one  versed  in  the  law,  he  had  no 
superior  at  this  Bar.  No  man  among  us  had  loftier  views  of 
professional  ethics.  Though  he  did  not  withhold  fair  criti- 
cism of  the  Bench,  he  idealized  and  revered  the  Court  as  the 


206  THOMAS  M.   STIMPSON. 

mouthpiece  of  the  Law.  He  practised  thus  here,  in  the  chief 
shire-town  of  a  leading  county  for  fifty  years,  and  yet,  you, 
sir,  for  example,  did  not  know  him.  It  is  not  strange.  He 
made  no  effort  to  be  widely  known.  His  sphere  was  in 
chambers.  He  appeared  but  seldom  in  the  trial  of  a  cause, 
and  was  apt  to  call  in  associate  counsel.  He  had  no  arts  of 
advocacy.  He  could  '  only  speak  right  on ';  indeed,  he  failed 
to  do  quite  that.  In  extemporaneous  address  that  tendency 
to  discursiveness  to  which  I  have  referred  obscured  the  main 
line  of  his  thought,  and  a  stranger,  listening,  would  be  likely 
to  underrate  his  logical  faculty.  He  would  have  made  poor 
work  of  a  side  to  which  he  could  not  give  his  whole  sympa- 
thy. He  could  not  sell  and  deliver  his  talents  as  merchandise, 
without  regard  to  the  purchaser.  And  so,  perhaps,  the  sort 
of  clients  who  jar  one's  self-respect,  and  who  have  to  be  taken 
with  a  little  moral  fumigation,  seemed  wholly  to  pass  him 
by.  Into  all  his  contentions  he  could  and  did  throw  the 
weight  of  earnestness  and  personal  conviction.  Frank,  clean 
and  honest  himself,  when  dealing  with  the  opposite  of  these 
qualities  he  was  capable  of  a  righteous  indignation  which 
broke  in  withering  denunciation  and  made  one  pity  the  re- 
cipient. He  was  at  his  best  and  strongest  when  employed 
in  redressing  wrong  and  fraud. 

Again,  to  account  for  so  quiet  a  career  where  there  was  so 
much  ability,  he  seemed  untouched  by  the  commoner  ambi- 
tions to  which  most  of  us  are  prone.  He  did  not  seek  renown 
or  office.  He  was  utterly  unconscious  of  the  galleries.  With 
shelves  laden  with  precious  goods,  he  displayed  none  in  the 
show  windows.  His  pride  in  well  doing  was  infinite ;  he  was 
blind  to  success  as  an  abstract  goal.  Nihil  pro  magnifico. 
And  the  corollary  of  all  this,  restful  and  delightful  as  we 
look  back  over  his  closed  life,  is  that  it  was  not  rankled  by 
disappointment,  not  embittered  by  failure  to  attain  glittering 
heights.  He  could  easily  detect  veneered  merit.  He  smiled 
grimly  when  self-assurance  boosted  mediocrity  over  the  heads 
of  such  as  he  into  the  seats  of  the  mighty ;  but  his  cynicism 
was  mild  and  passing. 


THOMAS   M.    STIMPSON.  207 

Then,  too,  his  home.  It  was  more  to  him  than  professional 
glory,  more  than  all  else  in  life.  To  her  who  was  nearest  and 
dearest  he  was  ever  devoted,  tender  and  chivalrous.  It  were 
sacrilege  to  attempt  to  depict  relations  which  were  private 
and  holy.  A  single  sentence  from  a  personal  letter  may  be 
quoted  without  impropriety  in  this  sympathetic  presence. 
"Such  unfailing  gentleness,  helpfulness  and  unselfishness  as 
marked,  on  his  part,  every  day  and  hour  of  our  family  life,  I 
would  once  have  thought  it  impossible  to  realize  in  actual 
experience." 

How  often  have  we,  who  knew  him  so  well,  marvelled  at 
the  possibilities  of  the  career  which  might  have  befallen  him 
if  he  had  been  just  a  little  other  than  he  was,  if  there  had 
been  less  of  Plato  and  more  of  Alexander.  Then  he  might 
have  been  a  leader,  indeed,  of  this  or  any  other  Bar,  and  no 
honor  in  our  profession  would  have  been  beyond  his  reach. 
Did  some  such  thought  occur  to  him  ?  He  gave  no  indica- 
tion. The  saddest  words  of  tongue  or  pen  seemed  to  have 
no  subjective  application  to  him. 

Sitting  at  his  own  desk,  in  the  midst  of  his  books,  I  can 
seem  to  see  him  enter  to  take  up  the  threads  of  his  unfinished 
work.  Here  are  the  notes  of  preparation  in  an  important  case 
involving  years  of  litigation  and  untold  labor ;  he  awaited 
with  confidence  a  final  rescript  of  success.  Here  are  the 
door-cards  in  his  familiar  hand :  "At  the  Registry,"  "  At  the 
Probate  Court,"  "  Back  soon."  Back  soon  ?  Nevermore. 
"  At  the  Supreme  Court."     Aye,  at  the  Court  of  Last  Resort. 

Nil  nisi  bonum  de  mortuis!  How  often  behind  fulsome 
eulogy  lurks  the  reserve  of  charitable  silence.  With  what 
regard  to  propriety  must  one  often  confine  himself  to  what 
the  deceased  has  done,  and  touch  tenderly  on  what  he  has 
been.  There  is  no  occasion  for  such  reserve  now,  here,  or 
at  any  time  and  place,  when  his  friends  think  of  Mr.  Stimp- 
son.     Literally  he  was  without  guile. 

If,  as  we  fondly  believe,  there  is  a  place  of  immortal  abode 
where  absolute  standards  prevail,  and  none  shall  stand  on 
other  than  true  and  naked  worth,  I  think  of  him  as  entering 


208  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

Heaven  that  September  morning  as  easily  as  he  might  have 
opened  once  again  his  office  door,  and  as  bringing  unshamed 
before  his  God  the  soul  which  he  had  kept  white  among  his 
fellow-men. 

In  behalf  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  I  respectfully  request 
that  this  memorial  may  be  placed  upon  the  records  of  the 
Court. 

Mr.  Henry  P.  Moulton  then  spoke  as  follows  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — On  behalf  of  the  Bar  I 
wish  to  second  the  motion  to  place  upon  the  record  of  the 
Court  the  appreciative  memorial  that  has  been  read,  and  to 
add  a  few  words  in  memory  of  our  late  friend  and  brother, 
Mr.  Stimpson.  He  was  a  man  of  whom  no  unpleasant  recol- 
lections can  exist.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  know  him,  and  those 
who  know  him  best  appreciated  most  his  courtesy,  his  kind- 
ness, his  accomplishments  and  his  ability.  His  cheerful 
greeting  was  in  part  an  expression  of  his  real  nature.  He 
always  had  a  pleasant  word.  Upon  any  subject  of  conversa- 
tion he  was  ready  with  some  apt  suggestion  and  with  abun- 
dant information.  He  was  not  merely  a  lawyer.  He  was  a 
scholar,  a  man  of  wide  general  knowledge,  interested  in 
events  long  gone  by  and  in  living  issues  and  in  the  arts  and 
scientific  subjects,  in  the  pursuit  of  which  his  interest  con- 
tinued unabated  through  life.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  learned, 
discriminating  and  sound.  In  any  part  of  the  profession  in 
which  he  undertook  to  work  his  place  was  among  the  best. 
His  investigation  of  difficult  questions  was  of  the  most 
thorough  and  exhaustive  character.  His  case  remained  with 
him,  at  least  in  his  business  hours,  and  he  took  little  account 
of  the  labor  and  thought  that  he  gave  to  it.  I  recall  as  an 
instance  of  his  care  the  last  case  upon  which  he  expended 
any  great  labor.  It  was  a  case  which  had  been  pending  in 
the  courts  for  years.  After  it  had  been  fully  tried  and  orally 
argued  before  a  master,  Mr.  Stimpson  submitted  to  the  mas- 
ter a  written  argument  so  clear  and  comprehensive  in  every 
detail  that  it  was  adopted  without  change  by  counsel  as  the 
final  argument  in  the  case  before  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court. 


THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON.  209 

His  application  of  the  law  to  the  facts  before  him  was 
practical  and  accurate.  He  knew  cases,  but  he  knew  general 
principles,  and  he  assigned  to  a  decision  no  more  than  its  real 
value.  His  conclusions  were  firm  and  clear.  As  stated  in 
the  memorial  in  other  language,  if  he  hesitated  at  first  there 
was  no  hesitation  at  last.  His  final  opinion  was  like  a  well- 
considered  and  well-reasoned  adjudication  which  seems  the 
last  word  upon  the  question  at  issue. 

While  he  was  a  general  practitioner  and  not  in  any  sense  a 
specialist,  if  such  a  term  can  be  applied  to  the  practice  of 
the  law,  his  ability  was  especially  conspicuous  in  matters  of 
real  estate  and  equity,  departments  of  the  law  in  which,  as 
your  Honors  know,  excellence  is  attained  only  after  years  of 
experience  and  thought ;  and  in  these  departments  very  few 
among  the  lawyers  of  the  Commonwealth  could  speak  with 
the  weight  and  authority  that  he  could. 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  present  another  memorial  of 
Mr.  Stimpson.  This  work  has  been  done  and  well  done  ; 
but  I  think  there  is  a  feeling  among  the  Bar  that  no  man  is 
more  worthy  than  he  of  the  present  action  of  the  court  and 
the  Bar.  In  professional  life  no  man  among  us  saw  farther 
or  saw  more  clearly.  He  was  faithful  to  every  duty,  and  is 
deserving  of  high  honor  and  regard  in  the  courts  in  which 
he  practiced,  among  his  associates,  and  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lived. 

Mr.  Joseph  F.  Hannan  then  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : — I  desire  also  to  second 
the  resolutions  upon  the  death  of  Thomas  M.  Stimpson.  It 
is  now  twenty  years  since  I  became  acquainted  with  him,  an 
acquaintance  which  ripened  into  a  strong  friendship,  lasting 
until  his  death.  My  experience  in  that  respect  was  a  com- 
mon one  with  the  people  among  whom  he  lived  and  practised 
his  profession.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  learning,  of  a  refined 
and  gentle  nature,  of  courteous  manner  and  pleasant  speech, 
with  a  well  balanced  and  diciplined  mind  and  a  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  true  dignity  of  manhood  and  of  the  profession 


210  .  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

which  he  honored  by  his  life.  He  was  also  a  man  of  sturdy- 
character.  He  was  truthful  and  never  evasive.  As  a  citizen 
he  was  most  highly  respected.  Of  his  great  services  for  more 
than  a  generation  in  the  school  board  of  his  native  town, 
others  may  speak.  His  love  of  music,  his  studies  in  astron- 
omy, his  pleasure  in  the  fine  arts,  his  fondness  for  the  forests 
and  the  mountains,  and,  above  all,  his  honorable  and  stain- 
less life,  marked  him  a  gentleman. 

In  the  practice  of  his  profession  he  was  conscientious  and 
painstaking,  never  avoiding  any  labor,  however  exhausting, 
that  might  benefit  his  client  or  his  cause,  and  bringing  to 
his  work  a  store  of  legal  lore  methodically  and  systematically 
arranged,  always  ready  at  his  call,  which  was  possessed  by 
but  few  members  of  the  Bar.  His  place  in  the  profession  was 
a  high  one  and  a  model  for  the  younger  practitioner.  He 
was  of  the  old  school.  He  enjoyed  his  work  and  he  enjoyed 
his  life.  He  was  in  perfect  control  of  all  his  faculties  until 
the  very  end,  and  the  professional  work  which  he  finished 
just  before  his  death  was  a  model  of  its  kind. 

In  certain  lines  of  the  law,  at  the  Essex  Bar,  he  had  few 
equals  and  no  superiors.  In  the  lines  in  which  he  was  most 
often  engaged,  in  the  Probate  Court  and  in  the  Registry  of 
Deeds,  no  lawyer  at  the  Bar  was  ever  consulted  more  by  his 
associates  than  he,  and  his  long  experience  and  valuable  ad- 
vice were  alwaj's  kindly  given,  in  his  own  modest  and  charm- 
ing way.  We  who  were  associated  with  him  there,  almost 
daily,  for  the  past  twenty  years,  shall  long  miss  him.  His 
cheerful  and  sunny  presence  has  passed  away  with  the 
allotted  span  of  human  life,  but  his  memory  will  remain 
forever  green. 

Mr.  William  H.  Niles  then  said  : — 

If  your  Honors  please  : — I  desire  to  support  the  motion 
that  my  brother  has  made.  The  death  of  brother  Stimpson 
leaves  a  vacancy  in  the  Essex  Bar  that  I  believe  no  member 
of  it  can  fill.  His  personality  was  unique.  His  manners, 
his  methods,  were  all  peculiarly  his  own.     He  was  always 


THOMAS   If.   STIMPSON.  211 

dignified,  affable,  fair-minded  and  kind.     Much  has  been  said 
in  his  praise,  here  and  elsewhere,  and  much  more  might  be 
said,  and  still  it  may  all,  or  nearly  all,  be  reduced  to  a  few 
words.     He  was  a  close  student,  a  ripe  scholar,  a  careful, 
prudent,  painstaking  adviser.     He  was  warm  hearted.     He 
was  a  fine  companion.     He  was  high-minded,  strictly  honest 
and  correct  in  his  professional  conduct,  and,  above  all,  a  man 
of  spotless  reputation,  and  unquestionably  honest  in  his  pro- 
fessional, as  well  as  in  his  private  life.     In  all  the  years  that 
I  knew  him  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  heard  an  insin- 
uation against  his  honesty,  his  integrity  or  his  fidelity.     He 
gave  the  oath  which  he  took  as  an  attorney-at-law,  its  full 
meaning.  He  did  no  falsehood  nor  consented  to  any  in  court ; 
he  did  not  wittingly  or  wilfully  prosecute  any  groundless  or 
unlawful  suit  nor  give  aid  nor  consent  to  the  same,  but  he 
conducted  himself  in  the  office  of  an  attorney  to  the  best  of 
his  ability  and  with  all  good  fidelity  as  well  to  the  court  as  to 
his  client.     All  will  agree  that  brother  Stimpson  was  a  most 
modest  man.     He  was  pure  and  sincere.     He  never  sought 
to  be  brilliant  nor  to  push  himself  to  the  front,  but  in  speech 
he  was  always  intense,  fervent  and  impressive.  He  thoroughly 
believed  in  every  claim  he  made  and  in  every  point  he  raised, 
and  no  one  could  listen  to  him  without  being  impressed  by 
the  depth  of  his  sincerity  and  the  firmness  of  his  belief  in 
whatever  matter  he  presented.     Instinctively  he  was  a  gen- 
tleman, and  he  was  a  superior  gentleman.  No  one  except  those 
who  knew  him,  will  appreciate  the  full  meaning  of   these 
words.     If  his  temper  was  ever  ruffled,  though  as  has  been 
said  here,  he  was  emphatic  and  positive  and  sometimes  severe 
in  his  denunciation  of  what  he  believed  to  be  wrong,  yet  he 
was  always  fair  and  candid,  and  his  opponent  would  always 
feel,  thoroughly  feel,  that  this  was  so.     He  was  an  attentive 
and   patient  listener.     He  was  always  considerate  and  tol- 
erant toward  his  opponent.     He  was  refined  in  his  language 
and  in  his  deportment.  He  was  always  refined,  always  gentle- 
manly.    He  was  bright  and  cheerful  at  all  times  whenever  I 
have  seen  him,  under  all  circumstances,  and  there  was  an 


212  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

atmosphere  that  seemed  to  surround  him  which  made  it  al- 
ways pleasant  to  meet  him,  and  always  pleasant  to  think  of 
him  when  absent  from  him.  It  is  easy  to  speak  of  such  a  man 
as  this,  and  to  honor  his  name,  and  I  am  glad  to  have  the 
privilege  of  standing  here  and  expressing  as  I  do,  my  pro- 
found respect  for  his  memory. 

Judge  Richardson  responding,  said : — 

Gentlemen  of  the  Essex  Bar  : — The  court  receives  your 
tribute  to  the  character  and  life  of  your  late  brother  Thomas 
M.  Stimpson,  with  due  appreciation  of  the  feelings  which 
have  prompted  it,  and  of  your  desire  to  express  and  record 
them  here.  I  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  him.  His 
professional  work  was,  I  think,  chiefly  in  this  county,  and 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years  or  more  of  his  life,  he  was 
not,  as  I  am  informed,  much  in  court.  But  it  clearly  appears 
that  during  this  period,  as  before,  he  was  actively  employed 
in  the  work  and  practice  of  his  profession,  probably  in  as  use- 
ful a  way,  contributing  as  much  to  the  common  welfare,  and 
on  the  whole,  being  as  useful  to  his  day  and  generation,  as  if 
he  had  occupied  more  public  or  conspicuous  positions. 

The  work  of  lawyers  has  undergone  a  great  change  since 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  forty-five  years  ago.  At  that  time 
the  one  measure  of  a  lawyer's  ability  and  standing  was  his 
success  in  getting  verdicts.  It  is  reported  that  Mr.  Webster 
defined  a  great  lawyer,  as  the  lawyer  who  won  his  cases.  The 
ability  to  win  verdicts  is  still  regarded  as  proof  of  great  skill, 
a  high  accomplishment,  and  an  object  of  a  laudable  ambition  ; 
but  other  fields  of  useful  professional  labor  have  been  opened ; 
the  invention  and  increase  of  corporations,  trusts  and  syndi- 
cates, the  extension  of  the  power  of  municipalities,  the  in- 
crease of  property  held  under  testamentary  trusts,  the  exten- 
sion of  the  rights  of  married  women,  the  size  and  complexity  of 
commercial  transactions,  and  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  business  methods  generally, — much  of  it  regulated 
by  legal  enactments, — have  opened  to  the  profession  new 
fields  for  the  legitimate  practice  of  law,  which  is  done  chiefly 


THOMAS  M.   STIMPSON.  213 

in  the  office, — but  which  requires  as  much  learning  and  capac- 
ity, as  high  legal  attainments,  and  as  good  judgment,  as  does 
the  successful  trial  of  cases.  And  it  was  here,  in  office  work 
as  I  understand,  that  Mr.  Stimpson  labored  with  the  marked 
success  which  you  have  described.  He  so  did  it,  as  to  gain  the 
respect  and  honor  of  his  associates,  and  the  confidence  of  the 
community.  I  have  been  told  within  a  few  days  by  one  who 
knew  him  well,  that  probably  in  most  of  the  difficult  ques- 
tions concerning  titles  to  real  estate,  and  trusts  under  wills, 
which  have  arisen  in  this  county  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  his  opinion  and  advice  were  sought.  He  knew 
the  law  on  these  subjects,  and  he  gave  his  honest  opinions. 

Forty-five  years  in  the  practice  of  law !  What  a  fund  of 
interesting  knowledge  of  all  kinds  he  must  have  acquired ! 
what  family  confidences !  what  a  treasure  of  interesting  per- 
sonal reminiscences  of  the  great  men  whom  he  met  and  knew 
at  this  Bar,  he  must  have  had !  And  then  during  that 
period  what  feuds  and  contensions  he  has  allayed,  what  suits 
averted,  what  reconciliations  brought  about,  how  much  use- 
less litigation  saved !  I  cannot  conceive  a  place  or  field, 
where  a  man  of  the  proper  qualifications,  and  of  the  right 
spirit  and  temper,  and  having  the  confidence  of  the  commun- 
ity, can  render  more  or  better  service  to  his  fellowmen  than 
in  a  field  and  practice  like  that.  Some  other  professions  and 
callings  occasionally  bring  men  into  close  relations  ;  the  physi- 
cian has  many  family  secrets,  the  minister  has  parish  confi- 
dences, but  no  other  calling  or  profession  brings  men  into  so 
close  a  touch,  or  so  intimate  and  sympathetic  relations,  as 
the  profession  of  law.  When  his  client's  honor,  or  his  life, 
or  liberty,  or  property,  or  anything  which  he  values  in  life,  is 
assailed  or  threatened,  to  whom  does  he  go !  to  whom  so  un- 
reservedly lay  open  his  heart,  and  so  fully  expose  his  troubles 
and  burdens,  whatever  they  may  be,  as  to  his  lawyer  ? 

It  is  the  fashion  in  some  places,  to  charge  the  profession 
with  selfishness — and  it  may  be,  probably  is,  true — that  few 
lawyers  make,  or  can  make,  an  exhibition  of  charity  in  the 
shape  of  testamentary  bequests.     Few  of  them  leave  large 


214  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

estates,  and  they  may  not  care,  with  money  laboriously  earned, 
to  leave  it  to  the  chance  of  its  being  preverted  and  used 

"  To  endow  a  college  or  a  cat." 
But  there  is  much  genuine  charity  besides  bequests  or  gifts 
of  monejr.  What  good  lawyer  of  ten  years'  practice  has  not 
often  given  his  time,  his  advice  and  services,  to  the  extent  of 
trials  in  court,  to  poor  persons  from  whom  he  had  no  expec- 
tations of  compensation  !  and  when  the  welfare  of  his  neigh- 
borhood or  town  is  in  any  way  in  jeopardy,  or  when  a  proposed 
public  improvement  is  to  be  promoted,  who,  as  much  as  the 
lawyer  of  the  neighborhood  or  town,  is  expected  to  gra- 
tuitously contribute  his  time  and  talents  to  it  ?  Lawyers, 
more  than  any  other  men,  give  direction  to  public  affairs ;  they 
are  an  essential  and  conspicuous  part  of  the  machinery  of 
administering  the  law ;  and  the  respect  in  which  the  law  it- 
self is  held,  depends  much  upon  the  character  of  the  Bar. 

The  competition  for  prizes  in  the  legal  profession,  as  for 
the  desirable  things  in  other  callings,  is  sharp  and  severe,  and 
in  the  struggle  some  must  fail ;  but  in  this,  as  in  other  pur- 
suits, if  the  condition  must  be  this  competition  though  severe 
and  hard,  provided  only  that  it  is  free,  that  labor  and  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  it,  are  open  equally  and  alike  to  all, 
with  individual  freedom  and  a  secure  tenure  to  what  may  be 
fairly  acquired,  what  man  would  not  prefer  it  to  the 
monotonous,  uninteresting  condition  of  existence,  where  the 
individual  is  lost  sight  of  in  the  mass,  as  represented  in  the 
pictures  painted  by  the  advocates  of  the  New  Social  Order  ? 

In  the  latter  condition  there  might  be  less  inequality  and 
strife,  but  it  would  be  more  like  the  peace  of  the  desert. 
"Better  fifty  years  of  Europe,  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay." 

Your  late  friend  evidently  was  individual  and  lived  his  own 
life ;  quaint  perhaps  as  you  say,  but  probably  so  much  the 
better,  at  least  so  much  the  more  interesting ;  and  living  his 
own  life  it  was  more  likely  to  be  a  true  life;  true  to  himself, 
and  so,  could  not  "  be  false  to  any  man."  And  is  not  the  se- 
cret of  our  prosperity  to  be  found  in  the  freedom  and  energy 
of  individual  life  ?     Must  not  successful  schemes  for  improv- 


THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON.  215 

ing  society  begin  by  improving  the  individual  ? — The  Legis- 
lature may  make  conditions  favorable  for  this  improvement, 
but  legislative  enactments  do  not  make  men  wise,  virtuous 
or  strong,  especially  bjr  things  which  diminish  their  individual 
freedom,  or  their  sense  of  responsibility  and  self-reliance. 
And,  at  the  best — 

"How  small,  of  all  that  human  hearts  endure, 
The  part,  which  laws  or  Kings  can  cause  or  cure  ? 
Still  to  ourselves  in  every  place  consigned, 
Our  own  felicity  we  make  or  find." 

During  the  present  session  of  the  Court,  I  have  constantly 
heard  allusions  to  Mr.  Stimpson's  fine  sense  of  honor,  tributes 
to  his  integrity,  and  his  honesty  ;  no  other  proof  of  these  is 
needed,  than  that  furnished  by  your  address,  bearing  the 
testimony  of  those  who  knew  him,  as  you  say,  "  at  close 
range." 

I  have  once  or  twice  heard  him  referred  to  as  rather  "  old 
fashioned  "  and  "  conservative," — a  charge  not  infrequently 
made  against  members  of  our  profession,  especially  against 
those  of  us  whose  sun  has  passed  its  meridian,  and  whose 
faces  are  turned  towards  its  setting;  but  if  it  refers  to  those 
who  still  respect  the  institutions  of  our  fathers,  who  still 
think  that  there  may  be  some  wisdom  and  lessons  of  value 
found  in  the  experience  of  the  past,  who  are  not  quite 
ready  to  abandon  all  old  principles,  faiths,  usages  and  prac- 
tices, for  the  new-fangled  and  untried  theories,  isms  and 
schemes  of  the  hour  ;  if  the  charge  includes  these,  they  will 
have,  at  least,  the  consolation  of  being  found  in  much  good 
company. 

The  failure  of  your  deceased  associate  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  "the  axiom  as  to  a  straight  line,"  to  which  you  have 
alluded,  was  probably  from  a  practical  point  of  view,  an  ob- 
stacle in  his  way.  In  certain  military  operations,  in  meta- 
physics and  in  oriental  diplomacy,  progress  is  supposed  to  be 
best  made  by  obscureness  and  indirection  ;  but  the  law — in 
its  administration — is  a  very  practical  science,  and  is  best 
dealt  with  in  a  direct,  plain  and  simple  manner. 


216  THOMAS   M.   STIMPSON. 

Mr.  Stimpson,  as  you  have  said,  was  interested  in  things 
other  than  those  within  the  strict  line  of  his  profession.  He 
was  twenty-five  years  a  member  of  the  Library  and  Lyceum 
Committee  of  Peabody  Institute ;  and  being  a  student,  pro- 
moted in  many  ways,  though  by  his  own  methods,  the  cause 
of  education.  He  took  an  active,  though  unostentatious, 
part  in  the  events  and  things  around  him,  where  he  felt  he 
could  promote  the  interests  of  the  community  in  which  his 
lot  had  been  cast.  He  had  the  wit  to  see — and  the  wisdom 
to  act  upon  it — that  it  was  better  to  do  the  things  which  he 
could  do  well,  than  to  attempt  those  which  he  might  be  able 
to  do  only  indifferently. 

In  view  of  his  liberal   education,    his   retentive  memory 

which  you  have  mentioned,  of  his  courtly,  though  agreeable 

manners,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  law,  it  might  have  been 

expected  that  he  would  seek  the  distinction — in  his  day  the 

distinction — of  a  lawyer,  success  in  the  trial  of  causes  ;  but 

you  say  "  he  had  no  arts  of  advocacy."     He  had  not  learned — 

"  How  to  engage  his  modest  tongue, 

In  suits  of  private  gain,  though  public  wrong, 

Nor  hunted  honor,  which  yet  hunted  him." 

Possibly — but  this  is  a  mere  conjecture, — he  may  have  lost 
courage,  as  many  others  have  done — by  a  wrong  verdict  or 
judgment  in  his  first  case.  But  let  no  young  lawyer  be  dis- 
couraged, or  cast  done  by  that ;  let  him  understand  and  re- 
member that  "  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong,  but  time  and  chance  happeneth  to  them 
all." 

Many  work  on  the  temple  of  Justice,  some  in  more  con- 
spicuous places  than  others,  but  he  whose  labor — honestly 
and  faithfully  performed — contributes  to  the  strength  of  the 
foundation,  though  unseen  and  invisible,  adds  as  much  to 
the  usefulness  and  value  of  the  edifice,  as  he  who  labors  more 
conspicuously  on  the  lofty  dome.  The  work  of  both  is 
necessary,  and  both  are  entitled  to  our  gratitude  and  respect. 

In  accordance  with  your  request,  it  is  ordered  that  the  me- 
morial, with  a  memorandum  of  these  proceedings,  be  entered 
upon  the  records  of  this  court. 


BENJAMIN  F.  BRICKETT. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  April  26, 
1897,  Messrs.  William  H.  Moody,  Henry  F.  Hurlburt,  Alden 
P.  White,  Charles  A.  DeCourcey  and  Edward  B.  George  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  of  Benjamin 
F.  Brickett  to  be  presented  to  the  court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  at  Lawrence,  held  on  Friday,  Oct.  27, 
1899,  Justice  Charles  U.  Bell  on  the  Bench,  Mr. 
William  H.  Moody  read  the  following  memorial: — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — The  brethren  of  the  Bar 
ask  that  you  cease  for  a  time  the  performance  of  the  daily 
duty  and  join  with  them  in  commemoration  of  their  dead. 
To  the  dead  themselves  this  pause  in  our  activities  and  the 
words  with  which  we  shall  clothe  our  thoughts  are  nothing. 
To  us  who  survive  they  are  much.  The  blessed  healing  of 
death  has  touched  them ;  they  are  at  rest  forever,  and  little 
care  what  we  say  or  think  of  them.  But  to  us  words  come 
as  a  relief  to  sorrow,  perhaps  as  an  expiation  for  the  things 
which  friendship  left  undone  in  life,  and  having  spoken  them 
we  may  return  to  our  endless  strivings  with  softened  hearts. 
I  am  commissioned  to  pay  the  formal  tribute  of  the  Bar  to 
one  who  was  of  the  best  known  and  most  beloved  among  our 
number.  The  months  which  have  passed,  though  they  have 
clothed  his  grave  thick  with  nature's  garments,  have  not 
brought  forgetfulness  to  us,  nor  healed  our  grief  for  his  un- 
timely death. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Brickett  was  born  in  Haverhill  in 
this  county  on  April  10th,  1846,  and  having  lived  his  life  in 
that  town  and  city,  died  there  on  April  19th,  1897,  fifty-one 
years  of  age. 

He  came  on  both  sides  of  honorable  ancestry,  for  generations 
active  in  the  community  in  which  they  and  he  dwelt.     One 


218  BENJAMIN  F.   BRICKETT. 

of  his  paternal  ancestors,  James  Brickett,  was  a  general  in 
the  Continental  army  in  the  war  of  independence.  His  fa- 
ther Franklin  Brickett,  for  some  time  a  prominent  shoe  man- 
ufacturer, was  a  keen,  farsighted  man  who  had  much  to  do 
with  the  conversion  of  the  quiet  town  of  Haverhill  into  a 
thriving  city.  His  mother  who  survives  him,  Mehitable  Dow 
(Bradley)  Brickett,  was  the  daughter  of  Captain  Brickett 
Bradley  of  the  West  Parish  of  Haverhill. 

The  father's  means  easily  enabled  the  son  to  obtain  a  lib- 
eral education.  After  passing  through  the  public  schools  in 
Haverhill  he  finished  his  preparation  for  college  at  Phillips 
Academy  in  Exeter.  After  a  short  stay  at  Bowdoin  he  en- 
tered Dartmouth  College  and  graduated  there  in  the  class 
of  1867.  The  first  year  after  his  graduation  he  studied  in  the 
office  of  Daniel  Saunders  at  Lawrence.  The  next  year  he 
studied  at  the  Harvard  Law  School.  On  April  19th,  1869, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar.  He  did  not  at  once 
begin  practice,  but  taught  school  at  Gleudale,  Ohio,  for  two 
years,  and  in  1872  opened  an  office  in  Haverhill. 

In  those  days  the  path  of  the  beginner  in  the  profession 
was  less  thorny  than  it  became  later  and  is  now.  With  his 
ready  wit,  handsome  face  and  figure  and  genial  presence,  he 
obtained  from  the  first  a  business  which  was  profitable,  and 
with  the  necessary  interruptions  of  official  duties  continued 
so  to  the  end.  He  was  married  in  1889  to  Emma  Jannie 
Gubtill  who  survives  him.  Mr.  Brickett  adherred  to  the 
Democratic  party  in  politics,  although  he  had  nothing  of 
bitter  partisanship  in  his  nature.  He  was  Chairman  of  the 
City  Committee  of  that  party  from  1882  to  1886  and  1889  to 
1892  inclusive,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  Na- 
tional Convention  in  1892.  He  served  upon  the  School  Com- 
mittee from  1876  to  1882  and  was  the  City  Solicitor  of  Haver- 
hill three  years,  1883,  '84,  and  '85.  He  was  elected  to  the  Mass- 
achusetts Senate  for  the  year  1891  and  served  in  that  body 
on  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  as  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Probate  and  Chancery.  In  the  latter  capacity, 
it  was  his  fortune  to  draw  and  support  with  success  the  im- 


BENJAMIN   F.    BRICKETT.  219 

portant  law  which  taxes  collateral  inheritances.  He  was 
elected  Mayor  of  Haverhill  for  the  year  1896  and  reelected 
for  the  year  1897  in  which  he  died,  although  at  the  time  of 
both  elections  the  Republican  voters  were  in  a  large  major- 
ity in  the  city. 

In  all  the  offices  he  held  he  conducted  himself  with  dignity 
and  ability  and  to  the  acceptance  of  his  constituency.  Es- 
pecially in  the  chief  magistracy  of  his  native  city  he  seemed 
to  broaden  under  responsibility  and  bade  fair  to  make  the 
remainder  of  his  life  one  of  largely  increased  usefulness. 

Yet  all  the  time  his  first  thought  was  for  his  profession. 
Mr.  Brickett  was  a  successful  lawyer,  so  successful  that  he 
needs  no  overstrained  eulogy,  so  successful  that  it  is  worth 
the  while  to  study  the  reasons  for  it.  His  field  was  in  the 
court  room  and  not  in  the  office,  except  in  preparation  there 
for  the  court  room.  He  made  no  pretensions  of  great  book 
learning,  and,  when  the  case  demanded  that,  associated  with 
himself  some  one  who  would  bring  to  the  contest  qualities 
which  he  thought  he  lacked.  In  the  Court  room  he  was  for- 
midable indeed  as  we  all  well  know.  No  one  of  us  felt  sure 
of  winning  a  cause  when  Brickett  was  on  the  other  side  with 
the  jury  to  judge  between  us.  I  doubt  if  he  ever  lost  a  ver- 
dict which  he  ought  to  have  gained  and  he  sometimes  won 
one  that  some  of  us  thought  that  he  ought  to  have  lost. 
There  were  several  causes  for  his  great  success  as  a  jury 
lawyer.  His  presence  was  impressive.  People  seeing  him 
for  the  first  time  inquired  who  he  was,  and  having  learned 
never  forgot  him.  So  he  obtained  a  large  acquaintance  with 
men  who  would  be  likely  to  be  found  in  the  jury  box,  and 
acquaintance  counted  something  for  him,  for  by  his  easy  good 
nature  most  men  who  knew  him  at  all,  knew  him  by  his  first 
name,  an  advantage  not  to  be  despised.  Thus  in  the  trial  of 
the  cause  he  was  more  than  the  advocate  presenting  the  reason 
or  logic  of  the  issue,  he  was  a  personage,  to  be  reckoned  with 
as  much  as  with  an  important  piece  of  evidence.  He  never 
really  lost  his  temper.  If  there  was  any  righteous  indigna- 
tion with  the  opposing  party  or  counsel  or  an  adverse  witness 


220  BENJAMIN   F.   BKICKETT. 

advisable,  it  was  forthcoming  in  adequate  quantity,  but  it 
never  clouded  his  vision  nor  disturbed  his  keen  judgment. 
He  had  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  humor  and  a  broad  wit 
never  over  the  head  of  any  member  of  the  panel.  There  was 
rarely  a  case  in  which  he  was  concerned  where  there  was  not 
an  illustration  of  this  quality.  Many  instances  of  it  were 
present  in  my  mind  as  in  the  minds  of  all  his  brethren  but 
I  resist  the  temptation  to  relate  them  here.  The  kindness 
men  feel  to  those  who  amuse  and  interest  them  he  aroused 
in  the  breasts  of  the  jury  and  took  full  advantage  of  it.  Thus 
it  always  happened  that  he  made  an  interesting  speech  at 
the  close  of  a  case.  The  jury  listened  to  him  and  having  gained 
their  attention  and  good  will,  he  availed  himself  of  it  to 
urge  forcibly  and  fairly  the  strong  aspects  of  his  side  of  the 
case.  Here  he  was  aided  by  one  quality  in  which  I  think  he 
excelled  every  member  of  our  Bar.  He  had  an  unfailing 
instinct  for  the  things  which  would  be  likely  to  be  considered 
as  important  by  the  tribunal  which  he  was  trying  to  convince. 
He  understood  better  than  any  one  of  us  what  the  average 
jury  man  would  think  and  how  he  would  reason.  Sometimes 
he  might  seem  to  us  to  slight  the  important  and  magnify  the 
trivial  features  of  his  case  but  he  generally  proved  to  be  right 
His  sense  of  jury  perspective,  so  to  speak,  was  exquisite  and 
it  was  a  mighty  power.  His  sympathies  were  broad  and  deep. 
To  them  his  own  heart  quickly  responded  and  by  eloquent 
speech  he  readily  communicated  them  to  his  hearer.  Finally, 
and  here  I  may  surprise  some  of  our  brethren,  who  knew 
him  less  well  than  I  did,  he  had  an  unfailing  industry.  He 
somewhat  affected  carelessness  and  indolence,  but  if  any  one 
of  us  took  him  at  his  word  and  fancied  that  he  came  into 
Court  with  any  nook  or  corner  of  his  case  unexplored,  we 
found  ample  reason  to  regret  it.  It  was  by  these  qualities 
which  I  have  imperfectly  portrayed,  that  he  became  the  strong 
man  and  a  leader  among  us. 

But  it  would  not  content  the  Bar  if  there  were  left  upon 
its  records  only  the  bare  outlines  of  our  brother's  biography 
and   speculations   concerning  the  causes  of  his  undoubted 


BENJAMTN   F.    BR1CKETT.  221 

power  as  a  lawyer.  It  is  as  a  man  and  a  comrade  that  we 
shall  remember  him  the  best.  He  had  no  enemies  among  his 
brethren.  He  was  everybody's  friend.  Who  can  ever  for- 
get those  annual  social  gatherings  of  the  Bar  at  which  he 
reigned  supreme  ?  The  kindness,  good  humor,  and  the  wit 
which  never  left  a  sting,  which  was  his,  he  brought  to  our 
board  in  abundance.  Each  year  we  looked  forward  to  those 
events  with  pleasant  anticipation  and  back  to  them  with 
pleasant  memories.  The  youngest  was  made  to  be  at  ease 
and  the  oldest  to  renew  his  youth  for  the  night  and  the 
judges  to  unbend  from  their  dignity.  To  those  who  have 
known  him  there,  these  gatherings  can  never  be  the  same 
again.  And  as  it  was  there  with  him  so  was  it  everywhere 
through  life.  There  seemed  to  be  written  upon  his  face  the 
spirit  of  the  Latin  motto  so  often  carved  upon  the  Old  Eng- 
lish sun  dials  "  Hbras  non  numero  nisi  serenas  " — "  I  count 
no  hours  save  those  of  sunshine." 

We  who  see  so  many  younger  faces  about  us  and  seem  al- 
most to  have  come  to  be  of  the  seniors  of  the  Bar  have  many 
precious  memories  of  those  who  have  departed.  With  sorrow 
we  add  this  last  to  our  store,  and  count  it  not  the  least. 

I  would  respectfully  request  that  this  memorial  be  entered 
in  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Mr.  W.  Scott  Peters  then  said  : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — It  seems  proper  to  me 
at  this  time  to  express  my  opinion  of  our  departed  friend  and 
brother,  the  late  Benjamin  F.  Brickett,  and  to  remind  the 
members  of  the  bar  of  the  great  loss  they  have  sustained  by 
his  death.  I  had  the  honor  and  great  pleasure  when  begin- 
ning the  study  of  law  to  have  been  a  student  in  the  office  of 
the  firm  of  which  he  was  a  member  and  during  the  brief 
space  of  time  which  I  now  feel  justified  in  appropriating  to 
myself,  it  will  be  inconsiderate  on  my  part  if  I  do  not,  at 
least,  make  an  attempt  to  pay  tribute  to  some  of  the  many 
good  and  sterling  qualities  of  which  our  friend  was  unques- 
tionably possessed.     As  a  man  he  was  genial  and  pleasant  to 


222  BENJAMIN  P.   BRICKETT. 

meet  and  associate  with,  always  willing  to  assist  a  friend  and 
most  charitably  inclined  towards  the  unfortunate.  He  was 
generous  almost  to  a  fault  and  naturally  of  a  sympathetic 
disposition.  His  good  nature  and  great  kindness  was  partic- 
ularly manifest  in  his  relations  with  the  younger  members 
of  the  bar  who  were  wanting  in  experience,  who  needed  the 
kindly  advice  which  he  was  able  and  willing  to  give- 

As  an  advocate  he  was  second  to  none  in  the  county  in 
the  presenting  of  causes  to  a  jury,  and  thoroughly  understand- 
ing human  nature,  he  always  tried  his  cases  with  a  great  deal 
of  tact. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  by  reason  of  his  great  experience 
and  wide  range  of  knowledge  coupled  with  his  great  ambi- 
tion to  make  life  worth  living,  he  certainly  gave  great  prom- 
ise of  being  one  of  the  most  useful  and  honored  citizens  of 
his  native  city. 

I  would  respectfully  second  the  request  that  the  memorial 
be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Mr.  Newton  P.  Frye  said  : — 

May  it  please  the  Court  : — These  occasions  are  sad, 
yet  interesting.  Sad  because  of  grief  for  departed  friends, 
and  interesting  because  eulogies  wisely  spoken  illustrate  the 
lives  and  characteristics  of  these  friends,  and  I  cannot  let 
this  occasion  go  by  without  adding  my  tribute  to  the  mem- 
ory of  these  departed  brethren. 

I  knew  my  brother  Brickett  well  for  very  many  years.  I 
knew  him  better  perhaps  professionally  than  socially,  yet  it 
was  impossible  to  see  much  of  him  at  any  time  or  any  where, 
without  knowing  him  both  as  a  lawyer  and  as  a  man.  What 
a  genial  fellow  he  was,  always  and  all  the  time.  Always 
good  natured  and  always  happy.  My  first  acquaintance  with 
him  began  long  ago,  several  years  before  I  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar,  and  was  happily  continued  up  to  the  time  of  his  de- 
cease. It  was  in  his  early  days  of  practice  and  at  a  criminal 
term  of  the  Superior  Court  held  in  Newburyport,  with  Judge 
Rockwell  on  the  bench,  when  he  tried  several  cases  for  the 


BENJAMIN  F.   BRICKETT.  223 

defendant  before  the  jury  of  which  I  was  then  a  member.  I 
well  remember  how  quickly  he  became  acquainted  with  each 
juror  on  the  panel, — he  very  soon  knew  us  all  individually, 
and  none  of  us  ever  thought  of  calling  him  Mr.  Brickett — it 
was  always  "  Ben."  And  he  met  us  so  generously  and 
heartily  and  in  a  good  natured  way,  that  we  as  jurors,  never 
felt  that  awe  in  his  presence  that  was  manifest  in  the  presence 
of  some,  others  of  the  then  active  lawyers. 

His  appearance  before  the  jury  was  winsome.  He  was 
thorough  in  his  analysis  of  the  evidence,  and  clear  and  plain 
spoken  in  his  arguments,  and  although  during  that  term  he 
won  no  acquittals,  it  was  the  fault  of  the  cases  rather  than  of 
the  advocate.  But  then  we  all  remember  that  during  the 
administration  of  Hon.  E.  J.  Sherman  as  District  Attor- 
ney, it  was  the  exception  for  the  government  to  lose  a  case, 
there  being  only  one  acquittal  during  that  sitting  of  the 
Court. 

But  Bro.  Brickett  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  in  his  career  as 
a  practitioner,  won  many  verdicts  from  the  juries  of  this 
County,  and  even  in  the  face  of  able  opponents  and  strong 
facts.  He  was  strong  in  many  ways.  Possessing  a  genial 
nature,  and  generous  to  a  fault,  he  walked  through  life  pleas- 
antly, and  added  joy  to  the  lives  of  all  who  had  occasion  to 
meet  him, — but  he  did  more  than  this,  he  aided  others  ;  many 
times  he  made  suggestions  to  me  in  matters  of  law  and 
practice  which  I  always  felt  grateful  for,  and  not  to  me  alone, 
for  it  was  his  habit  to  be  helpful  to  all.  I  deeply  deplore  his 
untimely  end.  As  to  my  friend  Judge  Carter.*  What  a 
grand  man  he  was.  I  knew  him  well  and  his  greeting  was 
always  cordial.  But  I  always  seemed  small  in  his  presence. 
He  seemed  great  to  me.  Always  sensible,  always  wise, 
always  ready.  He  not  only  knew  the  law,  but  well  knew 
how  to  explain  and  apply  it,  and  was  strong  before  a  jury.  I 
know  he  was  content  to  be  a  Police  Court  Judge,  but  his 
ability  and  learning  was  amply  sufficient  to  place  him  on  the 


The  memorial  of  Brickett  and  Carter  were  read  the  same  day. 


224  BENJAMIN   F.   BRICKETT. 

bench  of  a  higher  court,  and  had  he  been  so  placed  would 
have  adorned  the  place  and  position.  In  many  ways  he  was 
a  great  man,  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  the  inexorable  law  of 
nature  must  bring  old  age  to  such.  But  if  this  life  is  but 
preparatory  to  a  higher  and  grander  life  to  come,  who  knows 
but  this  brother's  characteristics  will  shine  with  an  unwont- 
ed brilliancy  in  that  better  life  which  knows  no  old  age  and 
no  infirmity. 

Such  is  my  faith  and  hope,  and  although  one  of  these 
brethren  was  cut  off  in  his  prime,  and  the  other  faded  away 
in  the  infirmities  of  age,  yet  their  lives  were  for  a  purpose, 
and  are  lessons  for  us  all. 


HENRY  CARTER. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  held  June  15, 
1898,  Messrs.  Boyd  B.  Jones,  William  H.  Niles  and  John  P. 
Sweeney  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial 
of  Henry  Carter,  to  be  presented  to  the  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court  held  at  Lawrence  on  Friday,  October 
27,  1899,  Justice  Bell  on  the  bench,  Mr.  Boyd  B.  Jones 
read  the  following  memorial : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — In  1898  there  was  laid  in 
his  final  resting  place  one  who  had  finished  the  journey  of 
life  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  and  who  had  so  conducted  him- 
self that  he  deserved  and  enjoyed  the  respect,  the  admiration 
and  the  affection  of  those  who  knew  him. 

The  life  of  Judge  Henry  Carter  had  been  a  long  and 
not  uneventful  one.  He  was  born  in  Bridgton,  in  the  State 
of  Maine  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  1814,  and 
died  at  his  home  in  that  part  of  Haverhill  known  as  Bradford, 
on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  January,  1898. 

In  an  extended  and  varied  career  he  had  discharged  many 
and  important  responsibilities  with  a  capacity  that  was  al- 
ways adequate  and  a  courage  that  never  wavered.  A  strik- 
ing personality  and  talents  of  a  high  order  made  him  a 
prominent  figure  on  any  occasion  and  in  any  company.  Ready 
in  speech,  sagacious  in  counsel  and  able  in  action,  he  im- 
pressed the  observers  as  a  man  earnest  in  the  performance  of 
his  duty,  capable,  modest  and  self-reliant,  while  his  intellec- 
tual endowments  were  such  that  neither  in  legislative  debate 
nor  in  the  more  strenuous  contests  at  the  Bar,  no  matter  who 
his  antagonist,  was  he  ever  overmatched. 

It  is  a  pleasing  duty,  may  it  please  your  Honors,  for  Bench 
and  Bar  to  unite  in  a  tribute  to  one  whose  life  furnishes  to 
each  a  noble  inspiration. 


226  HENRY    CARTER. 

Judge  Carter  was  the  worthy  product  of  a  generation 
which  antedated  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  which 
successfully  encountered  the  perils  and  privations  of  that  stern 
period.  Mentally  and  physically  he  inherited  its  force  and 
strength.  His  father,  John  Carter,  was  a  country  trader  and 
was  a  man  of  affairs  in  the  conditions  which  surrounded  him : 
he  died  when  his  son  was  ten  years  old.  His  mother  was  a 
member  of  the  distinguished  Hamlin  family.  She  died  when 
he  was  two  years  old. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  young  Carter  was  fitting  for 
college  at  an  academy  in  Bridgton  when  his  uncle  informed 
him  that  his  means  were  exhausted  and  that  he  could  no 
longer  pursue  his  studies.  Then  the  lad  exhibited  the  cour- 
age and  self  reliance  which  characterized  him  throughout  his 
life.  Without  consulting  anyone  he  walked  a  distance  of 
forty  miles  to  Portland  and  secured  employment  as  a  printer 
in  the  office  of  the  Advertiser.  After  working  a  year  or  so 
in  that  office  and  on  the  Jeffersonian,  a  paper  published  by 
his  relative  Hannibal  Hamlin,  he  studied  law  for  a  year, 
teaching  school  in  the  winter.  He  then  passed  two  years  as 
a  cadet  at  West  Point.  He  then  resigned  his  cadetship  and, 
his  ability  as  a  writer  having  attracted  attention,  he  accepted 
a  position  on  the  Kennebec  Journal  in  Augusta,  Me.,  which 
he  held  two  years,  studying  law  evenings.  The  law  was  his 
chosen  profession  and  the  object  which  even  as  a  mere  boy 
he  kept  steadily  in  view. 

In  1836,  being  less  than  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Bar  at  Augusta.  This  was  at  a  time  when 
a  student  was  not  permitted  to  take  an  examination,  unless 
he  had  been  in  college  two  years  and  studied  law  three  years. 

He  was  married  the  year  he  was  admitted  to  practice,  and  five 
years  later  Governor  Kent  appointed  him  prosecuting  attorney 
for  Cumberland  County.  At  that  time  such  men  as  the  Fes- 
sendens,  father  and  son  practised  at  that  Bar  and  appeared 
for  defendants  in  criminal  cases. 

At  the  very  outset  of  his  official  career  his  abilities  were 
tested  by  the  trial  of  an  indictment  for  arson,  in  which  the 


HENRY   CARTER.  227 

defendants  were  men  of  respectability  and  were  defended  by 
the  best  legal  talent.  The  young  attorney  not  only  tried  the 
case  successfully  but  impressed  the  Bar  and  community  as 
being  the  peer  of  his  antagonists.  The  criticisms  to  which  his 
youthfulness  had  subjected  his  appointment  were  silenced  by 
this  proof  of  his  qualifications. 

We,  who,  in  later  years,  have  observed  and  felt  his  capacity, 
force  and  perseverance,  do  not  wonder  that  the  penniless  lad 
of  sixteen  years,  in  ten  years'  time,  fitted  himself  for,  and 
gained  that  responsible  and  honorable  legal  position,  which 
men  of  years  and  prominence  were  eager  to  secure.  He  held 
the  office  as  long  as  the  Whig  party  remained  in  power. 

In  1847,  he  gave  up  the  successful  practice  of  a  profession 
in  which  he  delighted  and  at  which  he  had  achieved  distinc- 
tion and  honor,  and  moving  to  Portland,  became  part  owner 
and  editor  in  charge  of  the  Portland  Advertiser  on  which  as 
a  lad  he  worked  as  printer.  This  change  was  but  the  strong 
expression  of  the  earnest,  forceful  character  of  the  man. 

The  Wilmot  proviso  prohibiting  slavery  in  any  territory 
that  might  be  acquired  from  Mexico,  had  been  moved  in 
1846.  Judge  Carter  was  an  ardent,  uncompromising  enemy 
to  slavery  and  had  become  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading 
men  in  the  Whig  party.  That  party  was  opposed  to  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery,  but  it  included  many  who  were  opposed 
to  its  existence  and  were  eager  to  kill  it.  Judge  Carter  was 
one  of  the  latter.  To  these  men  slavery  was  the  sin  abomi- 
nable and  he  who  fought  it  not  was  a  guilty  participant. 
And  they  writhed  over  the  nation's  sin  as  a  godly  man  over 
the  depravity  of  his  son.  With  them  it  was  principle  and 
policy,  purpose  and  not  expediency.  If  their  hearts  were  hot, 
their  minds  were  clear  and  their  wills  determined.  The  ex- 
tinction of  slavery  was  what  they  purposed  and  accomplished. 

In  the  ten  years  following,  the  Portland  Advertiser  was 
Judge  Carter,  and  he  was  a  power  in  the  State  of  Maine. 
He  fought  for  a  union  of  the  Prohibitionists,  Free  Soilers 
and  Whigs  ;  he  succeeded  in  uniting  the  latter  two.  Little 
have  the  friends  of  his  later  years  known  of  the  important 
part  he  took  in  a  great  national  struggle. 


228  HENRY    CARTER. 

In  June,  1854,  in  that  paper  which  he  edited  and  controlled, 
appeared  the  first  suggestion  that  the  Whig  party  should  de- 
clare for  a  union  of  liberty-loving  men  under  the  name  of  the 
Republican  party.  The  Whig  party  in  Maine  refused  to  act 
upon  the  suggestion ;  but  in  that  year  the  Free  Soilers  of 
Massachusetts  and  Michigan,  acting  upon  it,  organized  in 
each  state  under  the  name  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the 
Legislature  of  Maine  elected  as  a  Republican  governor,  An- 
son P.  Morrill  the  Dominee  of  a  mass  convention,  supported 
by  men  who  entertained  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party. 

In  1855,  Judge  Carter  formally  renounced  his  allegiance 
to  the  Whig  party,  and  the  Advertiser  as  a  Republican  paper 
advocated  the  re-election  of  Morrill  as  a  Republican,  and  the 
latter,  receiving  a  plurality  but  not  a  majority  of  the  popular 
vote,  was  elected  by  the  Legislature. 

In  1856,  Judge  Carter  was  a  delegate  at  large  from  the 
State  of  Maine  to  the  First  National  Convention  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  served  on  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  ; 
a  striking  proof  of  the  manner  in  which  he  was  regarded  by 
the  great  men  of  that  great  state. 

In  1857,  at  the  age  of  forty-three,  having  assisted  in  the 
organization  of  the  National  Republican  party,  in  the  declar- 
ation of  the  principles  on  which  it  appealed  to  the  country, 
and  in  its  success  in  his  own  state,  he  felt  at  liberty  to  con- 
sult his  personal  interests  and  to  resume  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession. 

Even  if  his  life  had  terminated  at  this  early  age,  it  could 
have  been  truly  said  that  his  works  were  ample  and  his  ca- 
reer remarkable.  But  forty-one  years  of  usefulness  and 
honor  yet  remained. 

The  commercial  activity  of  Massachusetts  opening  a  broader 
field  for  legal  talent,  Judge  Carter  removed  to  Bradford, 
Mass.,  in  1857,  and  was  then  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  Essex 
County.  He  at  once  took  high  rank  and  stood  in  equal  fight 
with  such  men  (and  there  were  few  like  them)  as  Stephen 
B.  Ives  and  Elbridge  T.  Burley.     He  was  well  versed  in  the 


HENRY    CARTER.  229 

principles  of  the  common  law  ;  prepared  his  cases  very  thor- 
oughly, and  was  a  close  observer  of  human  nature.  He  had 
a  logical  mind  and  a  power  of  expression  which,  united  with 
an  impressive,  earnest  manner,  made  him  a  very  formidable 
antagonist.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous  and  was 
a  master  of  sarcasm.  While  he  was  a  very  successful  jury 
lawyer,  he  was  equally  strong  in  the  presentation  of  law  in 
the  Court,  and  always  received  its  respectful  attention.  In 
the  closing  argument  he  was  almost  irresistible. 

But  it  is  as  a  Judge  that  Henry  Carter  endeared  himself 
to  the  members  of  the  Haverhill  Bar.  We  knew  that  he  was 
a  very  strong  and  able  lawyer  and  amply  competent  to  man- 
age and  conduct  the  most  difficult  cases.  We  knew  that  his 
judicial  qualifications  were  great  and  that  he  was  well 
equipped  to  occupy  a  seat  on  either  bench  in  this  state  and 
to  decide  the  most  important  causes.  And  yet  we  felt  that 
as  Justice  of  the  Police  Court  of  Haverhill,  he  heard  and  de- 
cided the  cases  which  we  tried  before  him  with  as  much  con- 
sideration and  patience  as  if  counsel  and  causes  were  the 
most  important  in  the  land. 

His  judgments  were  formed  quickly,  but  they  were  delib- 
erate and  usually  correct.  His  decisions  were  rarely  ap- 
pealed from  and  still  more  rarely  reversed.  The  members  of 
the  Haverhill  Bar  will  ever  value  the  benefits  which  they  de- 
rived from  practice  in  his  Court. 

Judge  Carter  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Haverhill 
Police  Court  in  1867,  and  occupied  that  most  important  rela- 
tion to  the  community  until  the  day  of  his  death.  He 
judged  wisely  and  well  and  the  people  respected  his  decisions. 
He  was  eminently  judicial.  While  he  was  a  great  believer 
in  the  public  schools,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  uphold  the  legal- 
ity of  the  parochial  schools  when,  in  his  view,  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Statute  required  it. 

While  he  was  a  bitter  enemy  to  the  liquor  traffic  he  did 
not  hesitate  in  advance  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court,  to  hold  that  "  a  sale  of  cider  by  the  maker 
thereof,  through  a  servant  or  person  hired  for  the  purpose,  is 


230  HENRY  CARTER. 

within  the  exemption  of  the  Public  Statutes,  chapter  100, 
section  1,  although  the  maker  has  the  cider  made  at  a  neigh- 
boring cider  mill  and  does  not  himself  raise  all  the  apples 
from  which  it  was  made."  Other  cases  with  which  the  Bar 
is  familiar  made  him  known  throughout  the  State. 

His  boys,  as  he  delighted  to  call  us,  loved  him  well.  He 
was  our  friend  ;  he  greeted  us  when  we  were  well ;  he  visited 
us  when  we  were  ill ;  he  sj'mpathized  with  us  in  our  failures 
and  rejoiced  with  us  in  our  successes. 

Age  dealt  gently  with  him  to  the  very  last,  the  stalwart 

form  became  a  little  more  bowed ;  the  hearing  was  a  trifle 

dulled  ;  but  the  faculties  were  not  dimmed  ;  the  interest  in 

life  was  not  abated  ;  and  the  mind  was  not  clouded.     He  knew 

that  there  was  an  organic  trouble  with  his  heart  and  that  the 

end  was  not  far.     A  well  spent  life  and  a  conviction  that  the 

Almighty  created  man  for  a  beneficent  purpose  sustained  him. 

Following  the  lines  of  the  poet,  it  may  be  said — 

"  He  sank  to  the  grave  with  unperceived  decay 
While  resignation  gently  shaped  the  way." 

Never  again  shall  we  see  that  rugged  and  expressive  counte- 
nance, so  serene  in  controversy,  so  judicial  in  deliberation 
and  so  kindly  in  friendly  intercourse,  but  never  shall  we  for- 
get it,  and  in  order  that  others  may  in  some  degree  know 
and  appreciate  his  life  and  character,  I  ask  that  this  imper- 
fect memorial  may  be  extended  on  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Mr.   Andrew   C.    Stone    then    addressed    the  Court    as 
follows : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — When  I  came  to  the  Es- 
sex Bar  in  1867,  Judge  Carter  was  one  of  the  conspicuous 
members  of  this  Bar. 

There  always  have  been,  are  now,  and  always  will  be  lead- 
ing members  of  every  Bar,  men  who  are  conspicuous  in  their 
leadership.  Of  this  little  coterie  of  which  I  speak,  all  have 
passed  on  save  Brother  Northend  of  Salem  and  our  own  ven- 
erable Brother  Daniel  Saunders. 

Judge  Carter  was  not  that  keen,  quick,   sharp   and  far- 


HENRY   CARTER.  231 

sighted  lawyer  as  was  Mr.  Ives.  He  did  not  have  the  pol- 
ished manners  of  Wm.  C.  Endicott,  nor  the  profound  learn- 
ing of  Judge  Perkins  or  Mr.  Perry,  yet  he  might  well  be 
called  a  great  lawyer. 

He  did  not  try  a  great  many  cases,  but  I  think  he  was  at 
his  best  before  a  jury.  I  always  suspected  that  he  depended 
largely  for  the  law  in  his  cases  upon  his  partner,  Mr.  Jere- 
miah P.  Jones,  than  whom  there  was  no  better  lawyer  in  Es- 
sex County.  His  facts  were  well  prepared  and  were  always 
marshalled  with  great  tact  and  ability.  That  honest,  rugged 
face  of  his  which  carried  in  all  its  lines  the  deep  impress  of 
truth,  his  humor  and  his  pathos,  both  equally  effective,  his 
extensive  knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  earnestness  and 
his  fidelity,  all  had  a  great  effect  upon  any  jury  before  whom 
he  appeared. 

I  do  not  know  how  it  strikes  the  young  men  of  to-day,  I  do 
not  know  how  it  struck  the  young  men  of  my  time  when  I 
came  to  the  Bar,  but  I  always  had  a  deep  veneration  for 
these  men  who  had  pushed  themselves  forward  into  the  front 
rank  of  our  noble  profession.  I  looked  at  them  through  my 
young  and  inexperienced  eyes  with  an  awe  and  veneration 
which  almost  amounted  to  worship. 

My  acquaintance  with  Judge  Carter  in  the  years  which 
followed  my  admission  was  that  which  ordinarily  occurs  be- 
tween an  old  and  young  lawyer,  yet  I  remember  well  his  kind- 
ly greetings  and  pleasant  ways.  Some  years  after,  when  I 
came  to  hold  a  similar  position  in  Lawrence  to  the  one  he 
was  holding  in  Haverhill,  my  acquaintance  ripened  into  a 
sincere  friendship.  I  saw  him  often  from  that  time  to  the 
date  of  his  death,  and  always  sat  at  his  feet  and  learned  of 
him  as  he  discussed  the  duties  of  his  official  position.  I  think 
it  would  be  readily  acknowledged  that  no  better  magistrate 
sat  upon  the  bench  of  the  inferior  courts  of  the  Common- 
wealth than  Judge  Carter. 

I  have  spoken  these  few  words  of  him  as  a  lawyer.  Judge 
Carter  was  more  than  a  lawyer,  more  than  a  magistrate.  He 
was  a  representative  citizen  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  the 


232  HENRY   CARTER. 

best  sense  of  that  word,  true  in  all  his  relations  with  his  fel- 
low men,  patriotic  and  public  spirited,  honest  and  generous, 
plain  spoken  but  not  dogmatic,  his  advice  was  eagerly  sought 
upon  all  sorts  of  questions  which  daily  arise  in  a  busy  com- 
munity. 

Types  of  men  in  our  Commonwealth  are  not  nearly  as  dis- 
tinctive as  they  used  to  be.  Our  population  is  becoming  so 
heterogeneous  that  the  lines  which  divided  men  into  types  are 
fast  becoming  obliterated.  Judge  Carter  was  a  member  par 
excellence  of  that  distinctive  type  of  men  known  as  New 
England  yankees.  I  use  that  word  not  in  a  facetious  or  dis- 
respectful sense  but  as  marking  a  class  of  men  whose  ances- 
tors were  of  New  England  birth,  and  who  have  succeeded  to 
all  the  traditions  and  inspirations  which  have  come  down 
from  the  Puritan  and  Pilgrim. 

Rugged  and  honest,  truthful  and  just,  possessed  of  a  spirit 
of  patriotism  and  love  of  our  institutions,  brave  but  unassum- 
ing, of  keen  intellect  and  ready  wit ;  such,  in  a  word,  is  my 
estimate,  both  as  a  lawyer  and  a  citizen,  of  our  dear  friend 
who  has  gone. 

May  the  Bar  of  Essex  County  never  fail  to  have  among 
its  leading  members  men  of  the  stamp  of  Henry  Carter. 

I  respectfully  second  the  request  that  the  memorials  be 
entered  upon  the  records  of  the  Court. 

Messrs.  William  L.  Thompson  and  Mr.  Ira  A.  Abbott  made 
brief  addresses  and  J  ustice  Bell  made  an  appropriate  response 
to  both  memorials  and  ordered  that  both  be  spread  on  the 
records  of  the  Court. 


THEODORE  M.  OSBORNE. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  held  June  12, 
1899,  Messrs.  Daniel  N.  Crowley,  William  D.  Northend, 
William  H.  Moody,  Harvey  N.  Shepard,  and  Charles  S. 
Saunders  of  Lawrence,  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  memorial  of  Theodore  M.  Osborne,  to  be 
presented  to  the  Superior  Court. 

Memorial. 

In  the  Superior  Court,  held  at  Lawrence,  on  Wednesday, 
March  7, 1900,  Mr.  Justice  Bishop  presiding,  the  follow- 
ing memorial  prepared  by  Mr.  Daniel  N.  Crowley,  for 
the  Essex  Bar  Association,  was  read: — 

Theodore  Moody  Osborne,  a  member  of  the  Essex  Bar, 
died  in  Boston,  on  the  sixth  day  of  February,  1899. 

Mr.  Osborne  was  held  in  so  high  an  esteem  by  his  breth- 
ren at  the  bar,  and  had  gained  in  his  profession  such  a  cred- 
itable reputation  for  scholarly  attainments  and  thorough 
knowledge,  that  it  is  but  proper  that  the  regular  business  of 
the  Court  in  this  county  should  be  for  a  short  time  suspend- 
ed that  some  tribute  might  be  paid  to  his  worth. 

He  was  born  in  that  part  of  old  Danvers  which  is  now 
Peabody,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  November,  1849,  the  son 
of  George  Abbott  Osborne  and  Hannah  Sawyer  Moody,  his 
wife,  and  there  the  greater  part  of  his  life  was  spent.  He 
fitted  for  college  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  graduated  from  Harvard  in  the  class  of  '71.  Leaving 
Harvard,  he  studied  engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology,  and  after  graduating  there  he  followed 
the  profession  of  an  engineer  in  Nebraska,  assisting  in  lo- 
cating some  of  the  main  lines  of  railroad  through  that  state. 
After  about  two  years  in  this  occupation,  he  returned  to 
Massachusetts,  and  was  elected  librarian  of  the  Peabody 
Library  in  Peabody,  and  remained  in  charge  of  the  library 


234  THEODORE  M.   OSBORNE. 

from  1873  to  1880.  During  this  time  he  studied  law  and 
prepared  himself  by  general  reading  and  study  for  the  pro- 
fession to  which  he  was  to  give  so  much  credit. 

He  prepared  for  the  bar  in  the  office  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Hon.  William  D.  Northend,  of  Salem,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  at  the  December  term  of  the  Superior 
Court  for  this  county,  in  1879,  and  thereupon  opened  an 
office  in  Salem,  and  remained  there  in  general  practice  until 
the  establishment  of  the  equity  session  of  this  Court  for  the 
county  of  Suffolk,  in  1888,  when,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  late  Chief  Justice  Brigham,  he  became  clerk  of  this 
division  of  the  court. 

Here,  at  least,  it  needs  not  to  be  said  that  this  position  called 
for  a  knowledge  of  law  not  only  peculiar  and  technical,  but 
rare  among  good  lawyers.  Yet,  from  the  outset,  Mr.  Osborne 
displayed  such  a  ready  knowledge  of  the  practice,  the  prin- 
ciples and  the  history  of  equity  and  the  courts  of  equity, 
that  the  fitness  of  the  appointment  was  not  only  recognized, 
but  gratefully  appreciated  by  both  the  bench  and  the  bar. 
He  had  a  love  for  the  study  of  equity  and  equity  pleadings, 
and  no  question  was  so  complex  as  to  deter  him  from  its 
careful  consideration,  but  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  said  of 
him  that  the  more  delicate  and  involved  the  question  the  more 
readily  and  earnestly  he  approached  it,  and  having  under- 
taken its  study  it  was  not  abandoned  until  all  its  phases  had 
been  carefully  considered,  and  a  conclusion  adopted,  and  so 
adopted  that  it  was  well  fortified  by  precedent  and  principle. 

In  his  early  years  as  a  lawyer  his  thoroughness  of  study 
was  recognized  by  so  eminent  a  jurist  as  Justice  Otis  P. 
Lord,  theu  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  this 
state,  who  complimented  Mr.  Osborne  by  availing  himself  of 
his  services  in  the  preparation  of  his  work.  To  the  older 
justices  of  this  court  any  word  of  mine  would  be  superfluous 
in  speaking  of  him  as  a  lawyer  or  of  his  worth  as  a  clerk  in 
equity.  He  was  recognized  by  them  all  as  an  authority  and 
they  were  ever  ready  to  acknowledge  his  faithful  and  valu- 
able assistance  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. 


THEODORE  M.   OSBORNE.  235 

I  hesitate,  therefore,  to  speak  of  our  late  brother  as  a  law- 
yer and  I  purposely  refrain  from  assigning  to  him  his  proper 
rank  in  our  profession.  To  attempt  to  do  so  would  display 
a  conceit  on  my  part  altogether  unwarranted.  I  confine 
myself,  therefore,  to  his  reputation  among  the  justices  and  the 
eminent  lawyers  of  his  day,  and  I  think  I  can  say  without 
injustice  to  any  of  his  brethren  that  the  brightest  of  them 
readily  acknowledged  that  few  lawyers  of  his  time  had  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  rudiments  and  history  of  the  law 
and  none  were  more  learned  in  the  history  and  principles  of 
the  courts  of  equity  and  of  equity  pleading. 

Brother  Osborne  was  in  all  things  thorough.  Whatever 
he  did  or  undertook  to  do  was  undertaken  with  the  purpose 
to  apply  to  that  work  all  his  faculties  and  information  and 
to  adhere  to  it  until  his  task  was  done. 

He  was  not  a  bookworm  in  the  sense  of  constantly  and 
aimlessly  poring  over  books,  but  he  was  a  man  whose  time 
was  largely  given  to  books  and  to  study,  yet,  in  logical,  sys- 
tematic and  intelligent  study  and  with  economical  use  of 
time. 

Though  careful  and  persistent  in  his  legal  studies,  Mr. 
Osborne  found  time  for  other  pursuits.  He  was  a  musician 
of  no  mean  knowledge  of  music  and  as  a  member  of  the  Sa- 
lem Oratorio  Society,  he  did  much  to  give  that  organization 
its  high  reputation  in  this  community. 

He  was  in  no  sense  a  politician,  yet  he  took  a  lively  inter- 
est in  public  affairs,  not  only  national  and  state  but  munici- 
pal, and  here  as  in  all  other  things,  his  desire  was  to  attain 
and  secure  the  highest  and  best  condition.  He  was,  as  the 
saying  goes,  born  a  Republican  and  affiliated  generally  to 
that  party.  Yet,  when  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  good  of  the 
country  or  of  the  state  or  of  the  city  could  be  best  served 
otherwise,  than  through  the  domination  of  that  party,  he 
never  hesitated  to  disclaim  a  fealty  to  party  or  any  political 
allegiance  which  would  require  him  to  support  party  contrary 
to  his  sense  of  public  duty. 

He  neither  held  nor  sought  public  office,  yet  he  knew  the 


236  THEODORE   M.   OSBORNE. 

needs  of  the  community  much  better  than  many  who  were 
looked  upon  as  leaders  of  men  and  moulders  of  public 
opinion. 

Still  it  must  be  said  of  him  that  he  did  not  possess  those 
qualities  which  seem  essential  to  success  in  public  life.  His 
manners  were  quiet,  his  disposition  was  retiring,  he  was  pre- 
eminently sincere,  he  was  incapable  of  juggling  with  public 
questions  or  public  measures.  He  looked  into  them  careful- 
ly and  formed  his  conclusions  deliberately  ;  but  once  formed, 
his  conviction  was  given  and  adhered  to  without  equivoca- 
tion or  hesitation.  Such  are  not  especially  the  characteristics 
of  our  successful  public  men.  These  qualities  do  not  attract 
votes  or  arouse  public  acclaim. 

My  own  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Osborne  dated  from  the 
time  of  his  admission  to  the  bar.  Having  been  admitted  my- 
self a  short  time  previous,  we  opened  an  office  together  and 
continued  thus  associated  until  he  assumed  the  duties  of 
clerk  of  court  already  mentioned.  But  the  acquaintance  then 
formed  continued  until  his  death.  This  association  and  ac- 
quaintance gave  me  an  opportunity  to  know  him  and  to 
judge  him  as  a  man  and  a  friend.  His  character  was  pure 
and  simple.  He  was  conscious  of  his  learning  and  attain- 
ments, but  not  vain  of  them.  No  man  would  more  readily 
acknowledge  that  in  the  performance  of  life's  work,  not  only 
is  great  ability  desirable,  but  that  men  of  ordinary  merit  were 
necessary,  and  that  they  performed  its  greater  part.  If  he 
was  ambitious  his  ambitions  were  high  and  honorable,  and  if 
he  failed  in  them  he  bore  his  disappointment  with  a  manly 
resignation,  trusting  that  the  better  course  had  been  pursued 
and  with  naught  but  the  kindliest  feeling  for  those  who  had 
checked  his  hope. 

He  was  preeminently  truthful.  Of  deceit,  artifice  or  sub- 
terfuge of  any  degree  he  was  constitutionally  incapable. 
Wrong  of  all  kind  was  obnoxious  to  him  ;  yet  few  men  had 
a  broader  or  a  more  ready  charity  for  the  frailties  of  our  na- 
ture. 

He  was  religious  but  in  his  religion  there  was  no  cant,  no 


THEODORE   M.   OSBORNE.  237 

hypocrisy,  no  intolerance.  His  was  the  religion  of  the  heart 
rather  than  of  the  pulpit,  not  so  much  of  the  church  as  of 
Christ. 

Such  a  man  I  found  our  late  brother  as  a  neighbor,  as  a 
companion  and  as  a  friend.  And  as  a  son  and  brother,  a 
husband  and  father,  in  the  bosom  of  the  family,  under  the 
sweet  and  genial  sunlight  of  home,  these  goodly  qualities 
must,  I  am  sure,  have  opened  into  a  fuller  and  brighter 
bloom.  That  the  members  of  his  family  and  they  that  come 
after  them  and  after  us  may  know  that  his  brethren  at  the 
Bar  appreciated  his  ability  as  a  lawyer  and  his  worth  as  a 
man,  I  move  that  this  memorial  be  placed  on  the  records  of 
this  Court. 

Mr.  Alden  P.  White  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor  : — It  is  a  sad  pleasure  to 
second  the  request  that  this  beautiful  and  truthful  memorial 
be  spread  upon  our  records.  In  evidence  of  what  has  therein 
been  set  forth  as  to  the  limited  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Osborne 
on  the  part  of  members  of  this  Bar  except  where  he  resided, 
it  happens  that  none  of  the  representatives  of  this  locality 
who  are  here  present  were  acquainted  with  him.  It  is  a 
commentary  that  is  not  pleasing  to  our  vanity,  that  a  life  so 
praiseworthy  in  its  private  and  professional  aspects,  did  not 
attract  more  general  notice  and  esteem.  But  while  Theodore 
Moody  Osborne  was  not  widely  known,  his  plane  of  friend- 
ship was  exceptionally  high.  The  quality  of  the  praise 
which  he  fairly  won  by  his  attainments  was  infinitely  better 
than  ordinary  popularity.  Lawyer,  scholar,  Christian  gentle- 
man ;  his  character  stood  the  test  of  intimate  acquaintance 
and  always  proved  true. 

But  if  Mr.  Osborne  was  not  well  known  at  this  Bar,  none 
of  our  associates  had  the  privilege  of  so  close  and  valued  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Bench  of  this  Honorable  Court  as 
necessarily  attended  his  official  duties  in  the  equity  sessions 
concerning  which  the  memorialist  has  spoken.  And  doubly 
fortunate  are  we  in  these  exercises,  in  that  Your  Honor,  hav- 


238  THEODORE  M.   OSBORNE. 

ing  shared  with  the  deceased  in  the  responsible  oversight  of 
an  educational  institution  of  wide  repute,  brings  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  memorial  no  mere  formal  acquiescence,  but 
the  appreciative  regard  of  sincere  friendship,  the  sorrow  of 
personal  loss. 

There  is  soon  to  be  published  a  volume  of  memorials  which 
we  and  our  predecessors  of  the  Essex  Bar  have  upon  occa- 
sions like  this  asked  the  Court  to  have  spread  upon  its  records. 
It  contains  the  names  of  many  men  distinguished  in  their 
day  and  generation,  the  fame  of  whom  will  not  soon  pass 
away,  and  other  names  which  are  for  the  most  part  forgotten. 

This  memorial,  will,  I  am  informed,  conclude  the  book. 
The  reader  will  find  therein  chapters  of  comparative  fame. 
Though  this  last  chapter  will  be  deficient  in  this  respect,  the 
life  here  commemorated  is  not  to  be  measured  by  standards  of 
so  called  greatness  but  by  those  final,  absolute  tests  of  true 
manhood  in  which  the  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbal 
have  no  part. 

Mr.  William  D.  Northend  said : — 

May  it  please  your  Honor: — I  cannot  permit  this 
occasion  to  pass  without  an  expression  of  my  deep  regard  for 
the  subject  of  this  memorial. 

Mr.  Osborne  was  distinguished  for  his  intellectual  qualities. 
He  had  a  remarkable  power  in  grasping  a  subject,  of  concen- 
trating his  mind  on  it,  winnowing  the  chaff  from  the  wheat, 
obtaining  a  clear  comprehension  of  it,  laying  up  in  his 
mind  the  substance  without  cumbering  it  with  unnecessary 
details.  What  he  studied  he  mastered.  As  the  memorialist 
has  well  said,  he  was  not  a  bookworm  in  the  sense  of  con- 
stantly and  aimlessly  poring  over  books.  Yet  he  was  a 
thorough  student.  He  made  the  most  of  his  time,  but  always 
intending  to  so  work  as  to  keep  his  mind  fresh  and  vigorous. 

Those  who  knew  him  in  his  practice  at  the  Bar,  or  in  the 
performance  of  his  duties  as  equity  clerk,  fully  concur  in 
acknowledging  his  learning  and  his  ability. 

But  I  especially  desire  to  speak  of  Mr.  Osborne  in  his  private 


THEODORE   M.    OSBORNE.  239 

life.  I  knew  him  from  his  early  childhood.  As  a  youth, 
whilst  entering  with  zest  in  sports  with  his  associates,  he 
manifested  to  them  a  quiet,  gentle  dignity  which  won  for  him 
the  respect  of  all.  As  a  man,  his  character  was  immaculate. 
It  seemed  to  me  impossible  for  him  to  do  or  think  anything 
wrong.  He  was  the  delight  and  pride  of  his  parents'  house- 
hold, and  his  married  life  was  a  most  happy  one. 

Response  of  Mr.  Justice  Bishop. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  : — The  discriminating  memorial 
which  has  been  presented,  and  the  thoughtful  addresses 
which  have  been  made,  are  very  touching. 

It  is  just  and  suitable  that  these  proceedings  should  take 
place  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Osborne.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual 
acquirements  and  promise  in  certain  departments  of  the 
law,  of  cultivation  in  all  good  learning  ;  one  who  followed  a 
very  high  ideal  both  in  his  profession  and  in  his  life,  and  a 
person  of  the  greatest  sweetness  and  charm  of  disposition  and 
manner. 

In  thinking  of  the  record  of  his  life,  one  is  struck  by  the 
diversity  of  the  subjects  he  made  himself  acquainted  with. 
He  chose  the  law  at  last  as  his  life  work,  after  he  had  given 
much  of  life  work  to  other  services,  and  he  carried  to  the  law 
the  culture  acquired  in  them. 

His  especial  department  in  law  was  Equity  Jurisprudence, 
and  he  was  a  skilful  master  in  Equity  Procedure.  He  ac- 
quired proficiency  in  this,  through  an  excellent  power  of  exact 
statement,  gained  both  from  natural  aptitude  and  careful 
training ;  and  this  was  cultivated  by  practice  in  equity  causes 
under  a  sense  of  pride  in  the  work,  and  a  sense  of  duty  to  fol- 
low the  best  methods  in  it. 

When  in  1883  jurisdiction  in  equity  was  conferred  upon 
the  Superior  Court,  it  was  of  great  consequence  that  there 
should  be  in  charge  of  this  part  of  the  work  in  Suffolk  coun- 
ty a  clerk  having  the  qualifications  possessed  by  such  a  man 
as  Mr.  Osborne.  He  was  recommended  for  the  place  by  the 
late  Chief  Justice  Brigham,  and  the  service  which  he  ren- 


240  THEODORE   M.   OSBORNE. 

dered  in  it  for  ten  years,  in  establishing  methods  of  practice, 
and  in  assisting  and  relieving  the  court  in  the  constantly  in- 
creasing volume  of  equity  business  which  poured  in  upon  it, 
was  very  great.  No  man  in  the  state  was  better  fitted  for 
this,  and  but  few  lawyers  in  the  Commonwealth  had  attain- 
ments in  this  direction  equal  to  his.  His  work  is  buried  in 
the  records  and  files  of  the  Clerk's  office,  most  of  it  never  to 
come  to  light  again  ;  but  it  is  like  the  carving  in  the  remote 
recesses  of  ancient  cathedrals,  as  genuine  and  true  to  a  high 
standard  as  if  it  were  to  be  seen  and  read  of  all  men. 

Mr.  Osborne  was  a  man  of  real  modesty,  and  of  a  fine 
public  spirit.  He  loved  the  institutions  of  Essex  County. 
The  Peabody  library,  and  the  many  unique  organizations  of 
Salem  were  dear  to  his  heart ;  he  was  a  useful  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  a  great  school  in  your 
midst,  second  in  age  to  one  other  only  in  the  country,  and 
that  also  of  Essex  county. 

He  possessed  deep  and  healthy  religious  convictions,  and 
broad  and  tolerant  religious  views.  I  mark  it  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  increasing  bold  upon  the  community  (if  I  may  say 
so)  of  a  common  religious  feeling,  that  one  whose  technical 
faith  is  so  different  from  his,  Mr.  Crowley  wrote  so  appreci- 
ative a  memorial  of  the  character  of  his  fellow  student  and 
friend.  A  sobering  sense  of  everlasting  truth,  however 
differently  apprehended,  makes  the  whole  world  kin. 

Essex  county  is  the  home  of  lawyers.  From  it  came  Chief 
Justice  Sewall,  and  the  great  Chief  Justice  Parsons  ;  from  it, 
within  the  memory  of  the  nestors  of  your  Bar,  Mr.  Northend 
and  Mr.  Saunders — (still  preserved  to  you), — what  a  proces- 
sion has  passed, — Choate,  Putnam,  Saltonstall,  Story,  Ran- 
toul,  Cushing,  Lord,  Ives,  Burley,  Carter,  Thompson,  and  a 
host  of  others,  among  whom  are  many  who  should  rank  with 
the  highest. 

In  what  department  of  human  work  will  there  be  found 
greater  intellectual  power,  or  finer  training  ?  And  though  it 
be  true  that  a  lawyer's  life  is  like  a  story  written  upon  the 
water,  yet  let  us  believe  that  the  progress  of  the  world  has 


THEODORE   M.   OSBORNE.  241 

not  been  without  its  impetus  from  us  too.  The  science  of 
jurisprudence  has  advanced  ;  the  laws  and  the  administration 
of  them  are  better  now  than  they  were  three  hundred  or  one 
hundred  years  ago  ;  and  we  will  claim  that  we  have  a  right 
to  call  our  lives  useful,  whether  with  forensic  splendor,  or 
with  unobtrusive  and  unknown  fidelity,  we  travel  our  com- 
mon path. 

The  resolutions  of  the  Bar,  and  the  proceedings  will  be  en- 
tered upon  the  records,  and  the  court  will  now  adjourn. 


J8b 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


We  give  the  following  brief  biographical  notices  of  some 
of  the  more  prominent  members  of  the  Bar  prior  to  the 
formation  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  : 

John  Chipman. 

John  Chipman  was  born  in  Marblehead,  was  the  son  of  the 
Reverend  John  Chipman,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1738.  He  was  the  father  of  Ward  Chipman  of  New  Bruns- 
wick, one  of  the  commissioners  in  settling  the  boundary  line 
under  the  treaty  of  1783.  His  grandson  was  chief  justice  of 
that  province.  Mr.  Chipman  died  of  an  apoplectic  fit  while 
attending  court  in  Portland,  Maine,  July,  1778.  He  fre- 
quently attended  the  courts  in  Maine  in  company  with  Grid- 
ley,  Jonathan  Sewall  and  other  gentlemen  of  that  character. 

Daniel  Farnham. 

Daniel  Farnham  lived  in  Newburyport.  He  was  graduated 
from  Harvard  college  in  1739,  and  died  in  the  year  1776. 
Honorable  Levi  Lincoln  read  law  in  his  office.  His  practice 
extended  into  Maine,  and  he  was  for  a  short  time  King's 
attorney  for  the  county  of  York.  He  had  an  extensive  prac- 
tice to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

William  Pynchon. 

William  Pynchon  was  born  in  Springfield  in  1725,  and 
was  a  descendant  from  William  Pynchon  who  was  the  founder 
and  first  magistrate  of  Springfield.  He  was  graduated  from 
Harvard  college  in  1743.  In  1745  he  removed  to  Salem  where 
he  studied  law  with  Judge  Stephen  Sewall  and  resided  there 
until  his  death  in  March,  1789,  at  the  age  of  64.  He  was  an 
eminent  lawyer,  particularly  skilful  in  special  pleading,  a 
finished  scholar  and  an  accomplished  gentleman. 


in  memortam.  243 

Nathaniel  Peaselee  Sargent. 

Nathaniel  Peaselee  Sargent  was  born  in  Methuen  in  1731, 
and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1750.  He  practised 
law  in  Haverhill  and  held  a  high  rank  in  his  profession, 
though  never  a  distinguished  advocate.  At  the  organization 
of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  1775  he  was  appointed  judge 
of  that  court  and  declined  the  office ;  but  in  the  following 
year  he  was  reappointed  and  accepted  the  place.  In  1790  he 
succeeded  Judge  Cushing  in  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  and 
held  it  until  his  death  in  October,  1791.  He  was  60  years  of 
age  at  his  death,  and  left  behind  him  the  character  of  an  able 
and  impartial  judge. 

Theophilus  Bradbury. 

Theophilus  Bradbury  was  born  in  Newburyport  in  1739, 
and  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1757.  He  studied 
law  in  Boston,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  it  in  Portland, 
then  called  Falmouth,  in  1761.  Whilst  there  Theophilus 
Parsons  studied  law  in  his  office.  In  1775  Portland  was 
burned  by  Commodore  Mowat,  and  in  1779  Mr.  Bradbury 
removed  to  Newburyport,  his  native  town,  where  he  gradu- 
ally rose  to  distinction  in  his  profession  and  in  public  life. 
Besides  many  other  important  offices  which  he  held,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  Congress  under  Washington's  adminis- 
tration. In  1797  he  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court,  in  which  office  he  continued  until  his  death, 
in  1803. 

John  Lowell. 

John  Lowell  was  born  in  Newburyport  in  1743,  and  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1760.  He  studied  in  the 
office  of  Oxenbridge  Thacher,  and  commenced  practice  in 
Newburyport,  but  soon  after  removed  to  Boston.  He  there 
became  a  leading  and  distinguished  lawyer,  and  took  a  prom- 
inent part  as  a  member  of  the  committee  that  framed  the  • 
constitution  of  Massachusetts.     He  was  elected  a  member 


244  IN  MEMORrAM. 

of  Congress  in  1781,  and  in  1782  was  appointed  one  of  the 
three  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  to  whom  appeals  lay 
from  the  Court  of  Admiralty.  He  was  appointed  judge  of 
the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  1789,  which  office 
he  held  until  1801,  when  he  was  made  chief  justice  of  the 
first  circuit  under  the  then  newly  organized  United  States 
Court.  The  act  creating  the  court  was  repealed  in  the  year 
1802.  He  was  an  eminent  lawyer,  a  learned  civilian,  an  able 
judge,  a  distinguished  patron  of  science,  and  a  finished 
scholar.  He  resided  for  some  time  previous  to  his  death  in 
Roxbury,  where  he  died  May  6,  1801.  He  left  three  sons  : 
John  Lowell,  who  resided  in  Roxbury  ;  Francis  C.  Lowell, 
who  gave  name  to  the  city  of  Lowell,  having  been  an  early 
proprietor  of  factories  established  there  ;  and  Charles  Lowell, 
who  was  an  eminent  clergyman  in  Boston.  From  him  have 
descended  the  many  distinguished  families  of  the  name  in 
this  Commonwealth. 

Timothy  Pickering. 

Timothy  Pickering,  born  in  Salem,  July  17,  1745,  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  college  in  1763.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar  in  1768.  He  was  appointed  Register  of  Deeds,  and 
in  1775  was  appointed  Judge  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  Essex  County,  and  sole  Judge  of  the  Maritime  Court  for 
the  Middle  District.  He  took  a  great  interest  in  public 
affairs,  was  a  colonel  of  militia  and  opposed  an  armed  resist- 
ance to  the  British  soldiers,  when  on  February  26,  1775,  at 
the  drawbridge  of  the  North  river,  in  Salem,  he  prevented 
their  crossing  to  seize  some  military  stores.  He  joined  Wash- 
ington in  New  Jersey  in  the  fall  of  1776  with  his  regiment 
of  700  men  ;  was  appointed  adjutant  general  of  the  army  in 
May,  1777  ;  was  present  at  the  battles  of  Brandywine  and 
Germantown  ;  was  made  a  member  of  the  board  of  war ;  and 
succeeded  Green  as  quartermaster,  Oct.  5,  1780.  After  the 
war  he  resided  in  Philadelphia.  In  1787  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Pennsylvania  convention  for  considering  the  United 
States  Constitution,  and  earnestly  favored  its  adoption.     He 


IN  MEMORIAM.  245 

was  United  States  Postmaster  General  from  November,  1791 
to  January,  1794  ;  was  appointed  United  States  Secretary  of 
War  in  1794,  and  United  States  Secretary  of  State  in  1795  ; 
was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Essex  County  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  in  1802  ;  was  United  States  Senator  from  1803  to 

1811,  and  a  member  of  the  board  of  war  during  the  war  of 

1812.  He  published  many  articles  upon  political  subjects. 
He  died  in  Salem,  January  29,  1829. 

Theophilus  Parsons. 

Theophilus  Parsons  was  born  in  Byfield  parish  in  New- 
bury in  February,  1750.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at 
Dummer  Academy  under  the  celebrated  Master  Moody.  He 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  college  in  1769,  and  afterwards 
studied  law  with  Honorable  Theophilus  Bradbury  at  Port- 
land and,  while  there,  taught  the  grammar  school  in  that 
town.  But  the  conflagration  of  the  town  by  the  British  in 
1775  obliged  him  to  return  to  his  father's  house  in  Byfield, 
where  the  eminent  Judge  Trowbridge  was  then  living,  and  he 
received  very  valuable  instruction  from  him.  He  soon  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  in  Newburyport,  and  rose  to  un- 
rivalled reputation  as  a  lawyer.  In  1777  he  wrote  the  famous 
"  Essex  Result,"  and  in  1779  was  an  active  member  of  the 
convention  which  framed  the  state  constitution.  In  1789  he 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  for  considering  the  pro- 
posed Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  was  very  largely 
instrumental  in  procuring  its  adoption.  In  1801  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney  general  of  the  United  States,  but  declined  to 
accept  the  position.  In  1800  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  in 
1806  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court  of  Massachusetts.  He  died  in  Boston,  October  13, 
1813,  with  a  reputation  as  a  lawyer  and  judge  unequalled 
in  Massachusetts. 

Samuel  Sewall. 

Samuel  Sewall  was  born  in  Boston,  Dec.  11,  1757,  and 
graduated  from  Harvard  college  in  1776.     He  was  a  great 


246  IN  MEMOEIAM. 

grandson  of  Chief  Justice  Samuel  Sewall  of  Witchcraft  fame. 
He  practised  law  in  Marblehead,  where  he  soon  became  emi- 
nent in  his  profession.  He  was  a  member  of  the  state  legis- 
lature ;  a  member  of  the  United  States  House  of  Represen- 
tatives from  1797  to  1800  ;  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court  in  1800,  and  Chief  Justice  in  1813. 
He  died  at  Wiscasset,  Maine,  on  June  8,  1814. 

Rufus  King. 

Rufus  King  was  born  at  Scarborough,  Maine,  on  March 
24,  1755.  He  received  his  first  degree  at  Harvard  College 
in  1777  and  immediately  commenced  the  study  of  law  in 
Newburyport,  in  the  office  of  Theophilus  Parsons.  On  com- 
pleting his  studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Essex 
County  and  opened  an  office  in  Newburyport.  Whilst  there, 
he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  town  in  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  and  afterwards  was  elected  a  member  of  Con- 
gress under  the  old  confederacy.  In  1788,  he  removed  to 
New  York.  In  1789,  he  was  elected  to  the  New  York  legis- 
lature, by  which  body  he  and  General  Schuyler  were  chosen 
the  first  senators  from  the  state  under  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  From  1796  to  1804  Mr.  King  was  minister 
to  England.  In  1813  he  was  again  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  by  the  New  York  legislature.  In  1819,  he  was 
re-elected  to  the  Senate.  In  1825,  he  was  appointed  minister 
to  England  by  President  Adams,  but  returned  in  ill  health 
in  1826.     He  died  April  29,  1827. 

Nathan  Dane. 

Nathan  Dane  was  born  in  Ipswich,  December  27,  1752, 
and  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1778.  He  practised 
law  in  Beverly  where  he  resided  until  his  death.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  from  1782  to  1785. 
He  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  1785  to  1788.  He  was 
afterwards  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  senate  and  was, 
at  different  times,  on  commissions  for  revising  the  laws  of 
the  state.     He  was  the  framer  of  the  celebrated  ordinance 


IN  MEMORIAM.  247 

passed  by  Congress  in  1787  for  the  government  of  the  terri- 
tory northwest  of  the  Ohio.  In  1814  he  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Hartford  Convention.  His  professional  practice  was  ex- 
tensive. His  great  work  entitled  "  A  General  Abridgment 
and  Digest  of  American  Law  "  fills  nine  large  volumes.  The 
Dane  professorship  of  law  at  Harvard  College  and  the  law 
hall  were  founded  by  his  munificence.  He  died  in  Beverly 
February  15,  1835. 

Dudley  Atkins  Tyng. 

Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  born  in  Newburyport,  September  3, 
1760,  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1781.  He 
studied  law  and  commenced  practice  in  Newburyport ;  was 
United  States  Collector  of  Newburyport  and  afterwards  re- 
porter of  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Judicial  Court  until 
his  death,  August  1,  1829. 

William  Prescott. 

William  Prescott  was  born  in  Pepperell,  Massachusetts, 
August  19,  1762.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College 
in  1783.  He  taught  school  in  Beverly,  studied  law  with 
Nathan  Dane  and  in  1787  commenced  practice  in  Beverly. 
He  soon  removed  to  Salem  and  was  a  representative  and  sen- 
ator in  the  state  legislature.  In  1813  he  was  offered  a  seat 
on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  which  he  de- 
clined. He  removed  to  Boston  in  1808 ;  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Hartford  Convention  in  1814.  In  1818  he  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Suffolk  and  in  1820 
was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  State  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion. He  was  son  of  Colonel  William  Prescott  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame  and  father  of  William  H.  Prescott  the  historian. 
He  died  in  Boston,  December  8,  1844. 

Samuel  Putnam. 

Samuel  Putnam  was  born  in  Danvers,  April  13, 1768 ;  he 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1787 ;  studied  law 


248  IN  MEMORIAM. 

and  commenced  practice  in  Salem  in  1790  and  attained  a 
high  position  at  the  Essex  Bar.  He  was  senator  from  Essex 
for  four  years  and  a  representative  one  year,  and  from  1814  to 
1842  was  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts. He  presided  at  the  trial  of  the  Knapps  at  Salem 
in  1830.     He  died  in  Somerville,  July  3,  1853. 

William  Cranch. 

William  Cranch  was  born  at  Weymouth,  July  17,  1769. 
His  mother  was  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  President  John  Adams. 
He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1787,  and  was  a 
classmate  of  Samuel  Putnam ;  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in 
July,  1790,  and  practised  in  Braintree  and  in  Haverhill.  In 
October,  1794,  he  removed  to  Washington.  President 
Adams  appointed  him  junior  associate  Judge  of  the  district 
court  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  of  which  he  was  Chief 
Justice  from  1805  to  1855.  He  published  nine  volumes  of 
reports  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  and  six  volumes 
of  reports  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
He  also  prepared  a  code  of  laws  for  the  District.  In  1827  he 
published  a  memoir  of  John  Adams.  He  died  in  Washing- 
ton, September  1,  1855. 

Charles  Jackson. 

Charles  Jackson  was  born  in  Newburyport  in  1775.  He 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1793,  studied  law  with 
Parsons  and  entered  into  practice  in  Newburyport.  Shortly 
before  Parsons  was  raised  to  the  bench,  Jackson  removed  to 
Boston  and  practised  there  until  1813,  when,  upon  the  death 
of  Judge  Sedgwick,  he  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  of  the  state.  In  1823,  he  resigned  his  office 
on  account  of  ill  health  and  in  1824,  resumed  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Boston.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Constitutional  Convention  in  1820,  and  in  1833  was  appoint- 
ed one  of  the  commissioners  to  codify  the  state  laws.  He 
published  a  treatise  on  practice  and  pleadings  of  real  actions. 
He  died  in  Boston,  December  13,  1855. 


in  memoriam.  249 

John  Pickering. 

John  Pickering  was  born  in  Salem,  February  17,  1777. 
He  was  son  of  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering.  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  1796,  and  studied  law  in  Phila- 
delphia. He  was  two  years  in  London  as  private  secretary 
of  Rufus  King,  United  States  minister  to  England.  In  1801, 
he  resumed  his  legal  studies,  commenced  practice  in  Salem 
and  remained  there  until  1827,  when  he  removed  to  Boston. 
He  was  three  times  a  representative  from  Salem,  twice  a  sen- 
ator from  Essex  County,  and  once  from  Suffolk.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Council.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
commission  for  revising  the  Statutes  of  Massachusetts  in 
1833.  He  contributed  very  valuable  articles  to  the  American 
Jurist,  Law  Reports  and  the  North  American  Review.  His 
principal  work  was  a  Greek  and  English  Lexicon,  which  was 
finished  in  1826.  In  1806,  he  was  elected  Hancock  Professor 
of  Hebrew  in  Harvard  College.  He  was  president  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  a  member  of 
many  scientific  and  literary  societies  in  Europe.  He  died  in 
Boston,  March  5,  1846. 

Joseph  Story. 

Joseph  Story  was  born  at  Marblehead,  September  18, 1779, 
and  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1798.  His  father 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  He  studied  law 
with  Judge  Samuel  Sewall  and  afterwards  with  Judge  Samuel 
Putnam  ;  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  July,  1801,  and  began 
practice  in  Salem.  In  1804,  he  published  a  volume  of  poems. 
From  1805  to  1808,  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  and 
a  leader  on  the  republican  side  ;  was  a  member  of  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives  in  1808  and  1809 ;  was 
speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  in  1811,  and  from 
November  18,  1811,  to  the  time  of  his  death  was  Associate 
Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  In  the 
state  constitutional  convention  of  1820,  he  was  a  very  useful 
member.  He  was  Dane  professor  of  law  in  Harvard  College 
from  1829,  until  the  time  of  his  death.     His  judicial  works 


250  IN  MEMORIAM. 

show  extraordinary  learning  and  profound  views  of  the  science 
of  law.  They  include  a  commentary  on  the  Constitution,  on 
Conflicts  of  Laws,  and  many  other  legal  subjects.  His  opin- 
ions in  the  Supreme  Court  form  an  important  part  of  thirty- 
four  volumes.     He  died  in  Cambridge,  September  10,  1845. 

Ebenezer  Mosely. 

Ebenezer  Mosely  was  born  November  21,  1781 ;  he  was  a 
direct  descendant  from  Governor  Caleb  Strong,  and  was  by 
marriage  nearly  connected  with  Chief  Justice  Parsons.  He 
was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1802.  He  studied  law 
one  year  with  Judge  Chauncey  in  New  Haven,  one  year  with 
Judge  Clark  of  Wyndham,  and  one  year  with  his  uncle, 
Judge  Hinkley  of  Northampton.  He  settled  in  Newbury- 
port,  where  he  remained  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was 
a  very  able  lawyer,  and  had  a  very  large  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice. He  was  engaged  in  the  famous  Goodrich  trial  at  New- 
buryport.  He  gave  the  address  of  welcome  to  Lafayette 
when  he  visited  Newburyport ;  was  colonel  of  the  6th  regi- 
ment which  participated  in  the  celebration  of  the  two  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  Newburyport.  He  was  for  several 
years  a  member  of  the  State  Senate ;  was  a  presidential 
elector  in  1832  ;  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Dummer  Academy,  and  president  of  the  Essex  Agricultural 
Society.     He  died  August  28,  1854. 

Leverett  Saltonstall. 

Leverett  Saltonstall  was  born  in  Haverhill,  June  13, 1783, 
and  was  a  descendant  from  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  one  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Bay  Colony.  He  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  in  1802.  In  1805  he  commenced  practice  in 
Salem,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  May  8,  1845.  He 
was  a  State  Senator  in  1831;  was  first  mayor  of  Salem  in 
1836  ;  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  1838  to  1843.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  in  Essex  county. 


in  memobiam.  251 

Benjamin  Merrill. 

Benjamin  Merrill  was  born  in  Conway,  New  Hampshire, 
March  13,  1784.  He  was  grandson  of  John  Merrill  of 
Haverhill.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in 
1804.  He  studied  law  first  with  William  Steadman  of  Lan- 
caster, New  Hampshire ;  afterwards  with  Francis  D.  Chan- 
ning  of  Boston.  He  first  practised  in  Marlborough  for  about 
a  year,  thence  removed  to  Lynn,  and  soon  after  to  Salem, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  for  several 
years  partner  with  Samuel  Putnam,  until  the  latter  was  ap- 
pointed a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  one  year.  He  was  a  very 
able  lawyer  and  highly  respected  throughout  the  county; 
was  a  member  of  various  learned  societies,  and  took  great 
interest  in  the  literary  and  other  societies  of  Salem.  He 
died  in  Salem,  July  30,  1847. 

David  Cummins. 

David  Cummins  was  born  in  Topsfield.  He  graduated 
from  Dartmouth  College  in  1806 ;  studied  law  in  the  office 
of  Judge  Putnam,  in  Salem,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in 
1809.  He  was  a  very  successful  practitioner  in  Salem  until 
he  was  called  to  the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
in  1828.  He  continued  in  that  office  until  1844,  when  he 
resigned.  He  died  March  30,  1855.  At  the  Bar  he  was  a 
zealous  and  impassionate  advocate ;  and  on  the  Bench  he  was 
distinguished  for  his  ability,  learning,  and  impartiality. 

Benjamin  Lynde  Oliver. 

Benjamin  Lynde  Oliver  was  born  in  Salem  in  1788.  He 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1808,  studied  law  with 
Joseph  Story  and  Samuel  Putnam  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  in  1809.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Forms  of  Practice," 
41  Practical  Conveyancing,"  "  Forms  in  Chancery,  Admiralty 
and  Common  Law."     He  died  in  Maiden,  June  18,  1843. 


252  in  mbmoriam. 

Octavius  Pickering. 

Octavius  Pickering  was  born  in  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania, 
Sept.  2,  1792,  during  the  temporary  residence  there  of  his 
father,  Col.  Timothy  Pickering ;  came  to  Salem  in  1801. 
Graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1810,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  Bar  in  Essex  County  in  1813.  After  practising  here 
several  years  he  removed  to  Boston.  He  was  engaged  in 
many  literary  works,  his  most  important  work  of  that  kind 
being  the  twenty-four  volumes  of  Massachusetts  reports 
known  as  "  Pickering's  Reports."  He  died  October  29, 
1868. 

Andrew  Dunlap. 

Andrew  Dunlap  was  born  in  Salem  in  1794 ;  graduated  from 
Harvard  College  in  1813.  He  was  for  several  years  United 
States  attorney  for  the  district  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  the 
author  of  Dunlap's  Admiralty  Practice.     He  died  in  1835. 

George  Lunt. 

George  Lunt  was  born  in  Newbury  port  December  31, 
1803 ;  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1824 ;  was 
principal  of  the  Newburyport  High  School  for  several  years  ; 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1831,  and  practised  law  in  his 
native  town  until  1848,  when  he  removed  to  Boston.  In 
1849  he  was  appointed  United  States  attorney  for  the  dis- 
trict of  Massachusetts.  Several  volumes  of  poems  by  him 
have  been  published,  also  several  addresses  upon  public  mat- 
ters. He  was  editor  of  the  Boston  Courier  from  March, 
1857,  until  1862.     He  died  in  Boston,  May  16,  1885. 

George  Wheatland. 

George  Wheatland  was  born  in  Salem  November  10, 1804. 
He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  college  in  1824.  He  studied 
law  with  Leverett  Saltonstall,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar 
in  1828.  From  that  time  until  his  death  in  1893  he  prac- 
tised law  in  Salem.  For  the  first  twenty  years  he  had  a  large 
practice  in  the  courts.     After  that  his  practice  was  mostly 


IN  MEMORIAM.  253 

an  office  practice  which  was  larger  and  more  lucrative  than 
that  of  any  of  his  associates.  In  the  last  years  of  his  life, 
while  not  abandoning  his  profession,  he  was  largely  engaged 
in  a  real  estate  business  which  was  very  profitable.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  individuality  and  of  decided  opinions.  He 
was  father  of  Major  George  Wheatland. 

Robert  Rantoul. 

Robert  Rantoul  was  born  in  Beverly,  August  13, 1805.  He 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  college  in  1826.  He  studied  law 
with  Leverett  Saltonstall  in  Salem,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  in  1828.  He  began  practice  in  South  Reading  (now 
Wakefield)  ;  removed  to  Gloucester  in  1833,  and  to  Boston 
in  1838.  He  was  a  member  of  the  state  House  of  Represen- 
tatives from  Gloucester  from  1833  to  1837  ;  was  collector  of 
the  port  of  Boston  from  1843  to  1845 ;  was  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  the  district  of  Massachusetts  in  1845  ; 
was  United  States  Senator  for  a  part  of  the  unexpired  term 
of  Mr.  Webster  from  1851  until  his  death  in  Washington, 
August  7,  1852. 

Ellis  Gray  Loring. 
Ellis  Gray  Loring  was  born  in  Boston  in  1800.  Studied 
law  at  the  Harvard  Law  School  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar 
in  Essex  County  in  1828.  He  was  intimately  connected 
with  the  anti-slavery  movement.  He  died  in  Boston,  May 
24, 1852. 

Joshua  Holyoke  Ward. 

Joshua  Holyoke  Ward  was  born  in  Salem,  July  8,  1808. 
He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  college  in  1829.  He  studied 
law  with  Leverett  Saltonstall,  and  at  the  Harvard  law  school, 
and  commenced  practice  in  South  Danvers  (now  Peabody), 
in  1832.  He  removed  to  Salem  in  1838,  and  took  the  office  of 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  who  was  then  in  Congress.  He  was  a 
Representative  from  Salem  in  the  state  legislature  for  sever- 
al years,  and  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  from 
1844  until  his  death  in  Salem,  June  5, 1848. 


ntmm  14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

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LD2lA-10m-8  '73 
(R1902S10)476 — A-31 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

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